Pep Guardiola says his club, Manchester City “might not be able to compete” with the best teams in Europe and have to “accept that reality.”
Man City lost 2-1 to their rivals Manchester United in the Premier League derby. The club trails behind league leaders, Liverpool by 14 points.
Last season, City won the domestic treble. Additionally, the club retained the league title. In this season, 2019-20, tables have turned for City. The club has lost four games out of the 16 games played.
“We have to improve, accept it and move forward.” Said Guardiola.
“Manchester United has the quality to defend and to attack the counter-attack. You have to accept that.”
“That is the level we face against Liverpool, Manchester United, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus. They are the teams we have to face. The reality is maybe we are not able now to compete with them.”
“Maybe, we need to live that as a club to improve.”
Manchester City won the first of their back-to-back league titles in 2017-18 with a record-breaking 100 points. However, they were beaten in the Champions League quarter-finals by Liverpool.
On the other hand, they reached the same stage of the European competition last season before being knocked out by Tottenham. Despite that, they did go on to become the first English team to win the Premier League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup in the same campaign.
Nonetheless, City is struggling this season. Though, they are already through to the knockout stages of the Champions League ahead of Wednesday’s final group game against Dinamo Zagreb.
“The reality is we are 14 points behind for the mistakes we have done, for the quality of our components and the things we cannot control.”
“That is the reality. But we have to continue. We are at the beginning of December and we have other competitions to play in and other games to fight and improve on.