Manchester City could still miss out on Champions League places despite top-five qualifying, warns Pep Guardiola | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola has warned that he and his Manchester City side could still miss out on a UEFA Champions League spot despite the Premier League’s top-five qualifying.

The reigning Premier League champions crashed out of this season’s premier club competition in Europe prior to the last-16 stage for the first time since the 2012/13 campaign when Roberto Mancini was manager at the Etihad Stadium.

That exit came at the hands of Real Madrid, who added to Manchester City’s misery endured from the brand new league phase by defeating Guardiola’s players in both legs of a last-16 play-off clash at the Etihad Stadium and Santiago Bernabeu.

Given Manchester City’s poor form in the Premier League too, there is no certainty that one of Europe’s premier forces over the course of the last eight seasons will be featuring in the Champions League next season.

Inconsistent form to follow a torrid November and December run of results leaves Manchester City in sixth position in the Premier League table coming into the next round of matches this weekend.

And despite the English top-flight being rewarded with an additional qualification place in next season’s UEFA Champions League, City players will have to fight until the very end for every point possible to ensure their place among the continent’s elite is retained.

Speaking during his pre-match press conference ahead of Manchester City’s meeting with Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon, Pep Guardiola warned that there are up to eight teams competing for just five places in the Champions League for next season.

“Well, it’s better to have five teams instead of four, for the situation that we have,” Guardiola admitted on the subject of five teams being placed into next season’s Champions League as opposed to the usual four spots.

The Manchester City manager continued by warning, “But there are seven or eight contenders, so it will be until the last moment.

“We don’t have the squad all season; three central defenders out, the best striker out until the last one or two games. We don’t have the squad.”

This weekend will also mark the introduction of semi-automated offside technology into Premier League football following a trial period in the FA Cup’s earlier rounds leading up to the semi-final stage.

On the new technology that will attempt to speed up the offside assessment process by VAR, Guardiola reacted, “I think the reason why is do it quicker, right? As much as it’s offside is offside, and no offside is no offside, well done, welcome!”