Guardiola accepts tenure will be judged on Champions League success

Control: if Manchester City do not achieve this versus RB Leipzig on Tuesday then their Champions League fate will be a toss of a coin, according to Pep Guardiola, as he plots a route beyond the Bundesliga’s third-placed side into the quarter-finals.

The tie is poised at 1-1 as Marco Rose’s side arrives at the Etihad Stadium for a high-stakes night. Guardiola, who has a fully fit squad, is concerned that an open contest would mean less chance of progression, having reviewed the opening leg.

“In the first half we were better. In the second half they were better,” he says. “We saw the game [again] and we’ve tried to figure out what we are going to do. We’ll try to adjust a few things that will maybe help us to have more control and play a bit better.

“I believe in transition games it is always [the toss of] a coin. It can go in your favour or [not] but it is a knockout game and maybe we need to break more of the game, maybe we don’t. We will see. In the end the game will dictate what we have to do.”

Despite Guardiola always being questioned about his failure to lead City to Champions League victory he is fond of the competition. “It’s lovely: playing teams from another part of Europe, not the same ones as England. It’s special, so nice to show our club all around Europe,” he says.

City are second in the Premier League – five points behind Arsenal – and host Burnley in the FA Cup sixth round on Saturday before the international break with the manager intent on his side remaining in all three competitions.

“It is really important,” says Guardiola. “Not just that it would be a bad break, but to be alive for the last two and a half months of the season, extend our stay in the competitions, be close to Arsenal, will be good.

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