Having endured the worst phase as a manager in his entire career, there are assertions that Pep Guardiola's position as the Man City chief is no more undisputed. Amid the adversity, City will take on their long-term rivals Real Madrid in the playoff round of the UCL tonight. The first leg of the contest will take place at City's home, Etihad. It will be the 4th time in the last four years that these sides will cross paths at the biggest club competition in Europe. One could always expect a cracker of a game when these two sides meet and on Tuesday nothing different will be expected even this time.
As both City and Madrid are enduring a tricky phase across competitions, the managers' jobs are certainly not secure anymore, despite the fact that both have been the most successful lately.
“I know that in all the stadiums, they tell me that I’m going to be kicked out the next day, [sacked] in the morning, when we’re losing. But no, I don’t have this feeling. I’m obviously here, and I still have the position, because of what we’ve won in recent years. Otherwise, I probably wouldn’t be here.”
Guardiola admitted he wasn’t sure which City team would turn up when the game kicks off, saying they used to be an “incredible machine” but are not anymore.
He added: “Of course it would be good to continue for the club, for the prestige to win this competition. I like to feel that we are week by week, month by month, we are there. Now I would feel, yeah, the team is consistent, we can do it.
"Now it’s like, I don’t know. I know the game-plan tomorrow, I know the way we want to play. I still have doubts for the selection, because I have still injuries and people come back. But at the same time, always in this type of draws and competitions I’m so optimistic and calm. We’ll see what happens.
“You never know before the game what’s going to happen, how they react. But always you have a feeling with the players that the players are always there. Now we have a lot of injuries, players are a little bit up and down.
“We are not being consistent. What defined that team in the last decade is we are an incredible machine every three days. So otherwise, we cannot win six Premier Leagues in seven years and win the incredible trophies that we want. And after we can win, lose because the opponents are good, but we are not being consistent.”