Premier League champions must beat Club Brugge to advance to the next stage of the Champions League
Club Brugge players at a training session at the Etihad Stadium in advance of the game against Mancherster City. Photograph: Bruno Fahy/Belga Mag/AFP via Getty Images
City are in 25th place, two points behind Stuttgart in the final qualifying position. So if Brugge are not defeated, Guardiola’s side will be knocked out of Europe. The City manager is therefore unsurprisingly approaching the match with cold-eyed intent. “But it happened more in the further stages, not I would say right now . But we are here for the reasons that we know – that we are not good enough.”
“Of course, I’m not naive enough to know how important it is financially for the club to go through in this competition. But sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t. We want to try to go through, especially for sporting reasons.”“I expect a tough, tough opponent,” said Guardiola. “When a team is 20, 21 games unbeaten, it’s because they are good.”
Mignolet said: “In first instance, we are in a situation that we want to qualify, which would be an unbelievable performance and achievement for us. Now, we don’t have to look at the reasons why Manchester City are in the situation they are in. The game will see Mignolet come up against his former international team-mate Kevin De Bruyne, the Belgian playmaker who has struggled with fitness and form this season. Mignolet said: “We all know Kevin, of course. As Belgians, we probably know him even better.
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