Pep Guardiola admits Manchester City can't to compete with top European teams

Pep Guardiola said that Manchester City might be unable to compete against the top European clubs and he also said that the supporters need to accept that reality.

His side lost the Manchester derby 1-2 in a Premier League encounter last Saturday. Currently, City trails table leaders Liverpool by 14 points.

Last season, The Sky Blues won the domestic treble and also retained their league title. However, their start to the 2019-20 season hasn't been impressive after losing four consecutive games.

Guardiola said, "We have to improve and accept it and move forward. [Manchester] United have the quality to defend and the quality to attack on the counter-attack and you have to accept that. That is the level we face against Liverpool, Manchester United, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus. They are the teams we have to face and the reality is maybe we are not able now to compete with them. Maybe we need to live that as a club to improve, to accept the reality now and improve."

This season, Manchester City is struggling in the Premier League but they are already through to the knockouts of the UEFA Champions League. They play their final group game on Wednesday against Dinamo Zagreb.

According to the City manager, they are 14 points behind Liverpool because of their mistakes as well as the high-quality opponents they faced. He also mentioned that there are a few things that nobody can control and hence, they should move on by accepting the reality

However, the Spaniard is hopeful that his team will improve their performance as they have so many matches to play this season. He also mentioned that he is not eyeing the Champions League or how many points they need to collect in the League. Instead, he is determined to win more matches.

Manchester City won back-to-back league titles in 2017-18 and 2018-19. However, the English side faced defeat in the Champions League quarter-finals in 2017-18 against Liverpool. In 2018-19 too, they reached the last eight of the UCL before getting knocked out by Tottenham Hotspur. Nevertheless, last year they became the first English club to win the Premier League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup in a single campaign.