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Pep Guardiola says that Manchester City must take the issue of the Champions League very seriously if they want to consider themselves a great team.
The Blues confirmed the group’s top spot with a 0-0 draw in Porto, securing an easier draw on paper in the knockout round of 16 next year.
That leaves them with nothing at stake in their home clash with Marseille next week, which comes a few days before Manchester’s first derby of the season. The City manager admits that his team must focus on the Premier League for the next few months, where they have already lost several points.
However, although there could be many changes (seven were made on Tuesday since the weekend’s win over Burnley), Guardiola will not accept that his players ignore Marseille and focus entirely on United as he tries to improve standards within the team .
“It depends on whether they are tired, it depends on their behavior on the court, in training, in the locker room, in many situations. We’ll see,” he said.
“We were happy to qualify two games before. It was very important. Of course we traveled to Portugal to secure the first position. We know that the only result that could not happen was 2-0. It did not happen, we drew, we played to win and that. it was the most important thing.
Manchester City have secured the top spot in their Champions League group.
They qualify for the round of 16 as group champions after drawing 0-0 with Porto in Portugal.
The Blues will resume their Premier League campaign on Saturday when Fulham visits the Etihad Stadium.
We bring you all the reaction and analysis from Tuesday night’s game with our daily city bulletin.
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“Of course it is important now, but it is not just to absolutely prepare for United and Old Trafford, because against Marseille we are going to play to win. This is the way great teams create the mentality. No matter what competition you play, you have to try to do it and we did very well throughout the game. “
Asked if Marseille would be an opportunity to use some of the homegrown players, he replied: “I can’t answer this question. Sorry. Now is the time to have dinner, rest, travel tomorrow and prepare for Fulham.”
“We will see. I have 20, 21 players and of course they are available. If they can play, they will play but maybe some players will rest and there will be no selection and the young quarry will go to the bench. I don’t know, right now I can’t answer this question. “
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