Pep Guardiola said Manchester City would love to have the European record of Tuesday's opponents Sevilla as he was asked about his side's chances in this season's Champions League.
Guardiola won two Champions League titles at Barcelona but hasn't won it since — including in his six years with City. And when he sat down to preview the Group G opener with Sevilla, he knew the questions were coming about the importance of winning the Champions League and whether the task gets harder with every year City don't win it.
"Win it or not win it. F--- I don’t know," said Guardiola. "Sport not just football gives you another opportunity. It's a difficult competition, the club is proud to be here again and we are going to try again.
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"We try since day one to perform well. If we are going to win, I don’t know, it will depend on the pitch, tomorrow and against Dortmund and Copenhagen. It depends on our performance. If we are not good we go home and get punishments from fans and media and keep going. We move forward. Last season we fought to be here and tomorrow we play a team who did too, we know how difficult it will be."
At that point, Guardiola talked up Sevilla, who have an impressive record in the Europa League in the past decade and have been competitive in the Champions League.
"Teams in Spain are so tough, they dominate Europe in 10 or 15 years," he added.
"I’d love to have their history in Europe, City are far away from Sevilla in Europe. Tomorrow we don’t miss one chance to play in this spectacular stadium and we try and do a good game and try to do three points."
Despite Guardiola's warning, Sevilla have just one point from four La Liga games this year, and City midfielder Rodri believes that will make them dangerous.
"I don't think any situation is ideal. It is true they have not collected the results they wanted in the La Liga but I saw their match against Barcelona and they played well," Rodri said.
"At home they can hurt you. We will be on high alert because we know it will be a very demanding game. Sevilla have a great squad and we will have to be good to beat them.
"We have to keep doing what we have been doing — playing our own football. We have to impose our style. To play an abrasive team like Sevilla, we have to be at our best and focus on ourselves. They have their weapons. We are looking tactically at how to approach them.
"You can look at [Sevilla's form] two ways, either make the most of a moment like this or Sevilla come back stronger. We are not really giving this thought — we have to put everything into context. Sevilla haven't had the results they want but they are a good squad and that’s what we are looking at."
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