City have to beat Club Brugge in their final league phase game on Wednesday (29.01.25) to stay in the competition and the coach has urged his players to step up for the big occasion.

Guardiola said: "The situation that we have is that we have to win the game and if not we will not continue in this competition. But it's not a problem, it's an opportunity, a challenge, and we will face it.

"We would like to score a lot in the first 20 minutes but I don't think it is going to happen. The approach is to read the game we have to play - be completely relaxed, no emotions and understand the game.

"I know these type of games you have to put in something special - something there has not been enough of so far in this Champions League - to win the games."

City's European struggles this season have come as a surprise but Guardiola is used to high-stakes continental games having won the Champions League three times previously.

The Spaniard said: "I've been many years in the Champions League since I started my career as a manager, and these type of games I've played many times.

"Sooner or later you have to play these type of games where if you win you go through and if you don't you go out.

"It's happened more in the further stages but we are here for the reasons we know, that we have not been good enough, but this is a situation we have lived many times."

Guardiola is refusing to think about a defeat that would leave them out of European competition altogether.

He said: "It would not be good [to lose] but I'm not thinking about that right now."