Pep Guardiola insisted Manchester City will ‘try to avoid the damage’ or their ‘bad’ season after his side’s late winner against Aston Villa put them on course for Champions League qualification.
The Premier League champions – for a few more days at least – moved into third place, four points clear of sixth-place Villa, thanks to Matheus Nunes’ 94th-minute strike.
City’s league campaign has fallen well short of their usual best, with a woeful run of the end of 2024 putting paid to any hopes of an unprecedented fifth-straight league title. Meanwhile, their hopes of glory in the Champions League were ended in the play-off round following a comprehensive defeat by Real Madrid.
But victory over Villa – their fourth in five league matches – has put them within touching distance of salvaging a place in European football’s premier competition next term.
Post-match, Guardiola bluntly conceded that City’s season has been poor, while applauding the quality of the five sides they are in competition with to qualify for the Champions League.
‘The season has been bad,’ said Guardiola. ‘It has not been good. What will make you feel the season is good is the Premier League, not the Champions League or FA Cup.
Pep Guardiola insisted Manchester City will ‘try to avoid the damage’ or their ‘bad’ season after his side’s late winner against Aston Villa
Matheus Nunes’ 94th-minute winner moved the champions up into third place in the table
The Portuguese netted his first Premier League goal for the club to claim victory over Villa
‘But it happened, sometimes you have bad seasons for many reasons, but until the end we will try to avoid the damage. Liverpool will be champions and Arsenal what can I say, Chelsea, Aston Villa, Newcastle, Nottingham Forest, ourselves. The level of teams are outstanding.
‘Since the Bournemouth FA Cup game the team changed. Manchester United we didn’t play good. It is for situations I know perfectly.’
In addition to their remaining league target, City are in the running for FA Cup success and are bidding to reach the final for the third season in a row.
Guardiola’s men take on Nottingham Forest – now a point and place behind them in the league – in the semi-final of the cup at Wembley on Sunday.
Following the tie, attention will return to matters in the league, where a favourable set of fixtures make City strong favourites to seal Champions League qualification.
Tuesday’s clash against Aston Villa was seen as a mammoth hurdle to that aim. Indeed, Guardiola claimed the match would be a final in his pre-match comments.
His side survived an early scare when Marcus Rashford hit the post within 17 seconds of the encounter but they quickly recovered and took the lead in the seventh minute through Bernardo Silva. The Portuguese’s close-range strike proved too hot for Emiliano Martinez to handle and squirmed off the stopper into the net.
The game’s most contentious moment came 11 minutes later when Ruben Dias was adjudged to have fouled Jacob Ramsey in the area. Referee Craig Pawson initially waved play on before was instructed to review the incident at the pitchside monitor.
Dias and his City team-mates vehemently objected to the decision that only came after referee Craig Pawson was instructed to review the challenge by VAR
While City celebrate taking the initiative in the Champions League race, Villa’s hopes suffered a major blow
The decision was reversed allowing for on-loan Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford to score the equaliser.
City were made to wait until the fourth minute of stoppage time when, after a superb piece of wing play by Jerremy Doku, Nunes arrived at the far post to score his first Premier League goal for the club.
While City celebrate taking the initiative in the Champions League race, Villa’s hopes suffered a major blow. Unai Emery’s men are at the back of a chasing pack that also includes Chelsea, Newcastle and Forest.
The Midlands club must quickly recover from their disappointment ahead of their own FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace on Saturday evening.
