Pep Guardiola names “massively important” achievement needed by Manchester City this season and it’s not winning the FA Cup | OneFootball

Manchester City can still achieve a “massively important” feat for the football club this season, albeit not going down in the record books, according to Pep Guardiola.

It comes after a largely difficult season so far for the reigning Premier League champions, whose already-ageing squad has been heavily hit by a multitude of relentless fitness and injury problems in key areas of the pitch.

Among those has been the centre of defence, where manager Pep Guardiola was forced to contend with having none of his regular centre-backs for a crucial phase of their season back in November.

An inability to get players back fully-fit saw the likes of Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake battle on with niggles and injury concerns, subsequently sparking City into action in the January transfer window through the recruitment of Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis.

And having navigated their way through a rough patch in the season that led to an exit from the Carabao Cup, the UEFA Champions League, and the race for the Premier League title, the main ambitions for Pep Guardiola’s players have reduced but not in terms of importance.

Speaking during a recent press conference, Guardiola admitted the importance of UEFA Champions League qualification for the 2025/26 campaign, despite such an achievement not being remembered in the record books in future years.

“The qualification for the Champions League will be really, really good for the club,” said Guardiola. “It will not be in the records; when you see the numbers, always it depends on how many silverwares you lift, and it will not be.”

The Manchester City manager continued, “But for the club, for the future, for the new players, for the old players, for me, for the club, for everyone, of course, being in the Champions League is massively important.

“But if you talk about that, we talk about (Nottingham) Forests, the same, Newcastle and all the peoples are there, Aston Villas, and Brightons, and Bournemouth. It’s really, really important.”

It is Nottingham Forest who next take on Manchester City in the Premier League in a fixture that could have significant ramifications on their respective pursuits of European football for next season.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s side currently sit third in the Premier League table, just one point ahead of Manchester City in fourth, and have also progressed into the quarter-final of the FA Cup alongside Pep Guardiola’s side.

That round of the competition will see Manchester City travel away to Bournemouth at the end of the month, while Forest also head to the south coast for a meeting with Brighton & Hove Albion.