Pep Guardiola urged his quadruple-chasing Manchester City players to forget about the Champions League after they eased into the quarter-finals.
City secured their place in the last eight of Europe’s elite competition for a fourth successive year as they outclassed Borussia Monchengladbach in Budapest on Tuesday, winning 2-0 to wrap up a comfortable 4-0 aggregate success.
Reaching the semi-finals for the first time under Guardiola is the next challenge in the showpiece competition but, with three other trophies still to play for, the City boss wants to switch focus to the next game.
City are back in action on Saturday as they face Everton in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup at Goodison Park.
Guardiola said: “Everyone is fit – 20 players – but everything can change immediately, in one day.
“We play one more game, then international break, and I don’t know how we’ll react after it. We have Leicester, Champions League, Leeds, Champions League. I don’t know what will happen.
“That’s why the best thing we can do is forget about the quarter-finals and just focus on playing the best way, try to win the games. If we deserve it we’ll go through and if we don’t we’ll be out.
Next round is that way! pic.twitter.com/FpkWwQJTdF — Kevin De Bruyne (@DeBruyneKev) March 16, 2021
“Now Everton. We will see what happens in the next game and when the quarter-finals are drawn. We will see. I’m happy to be there for a fourth time and we will try to do a good game.”
Guardiola felt his players delivered a professional performance to book their quarter-final place.
They looked comfortable throughout and goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan inside the first 18 minutes put the tie beyond any doubt.
Guardiola said: “It was a good performance, (it was) under control for 90 minutes from the beginning.
“We arrived here with good result, we cannot deny that, but this competition can be tricky. We were serious but after the two magnificent goals everything became easier. The way we played was really good.”
Monchengladbach coach Marco Rose acknowledged his side had been outplayed. It was his side’s seventh successive defeat since it was announced Rose would leave the club at the end of the season for Bundesliga rivals Borussia Dortmund.
Rose said: “There was lots of confidence but we have to recognise an opponent that was too strong for us.
Next round of #UCL unlocked 🔓 Great job – team 💙🎱 @ManCity pic.twitter.com/EBhZsErV5M — Ilkay Gündogan (@IlkayGuendogan) March 16, 2021
“The team tried to do what they could. We had shots but if you allow City to have shots then you won’t get very far. We have to take chances if we get them.
“We came here with a good feeling but then we faced this quality. The lads are disappointed and there won’t seem to be any positives at the moment, but there are positives we can take for the next weeks.
“The most important thing for me, even though Man City were far superior, was the way the lads put effort into the game and stood up. It is just difficult against that team.”
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