"Not naive" - Pep Guardiola reaction to transfer question speaks volumes as £5.9m reality laid bare

Pep Guardiola has no doubts in his Manchester City players because they have been in must-win Champions League games plenty of times before - but he acknowledged it is rarely as early in the competition as this.

Wednesday's final League Phase fixture with Club Brugge is the culmination of a disappointing campaign which has seen City take just eight points from seven games, with three defeats and just two wins. They sit 25th in the 36-team league, facing the embarrassment of failing to qualify if they don't beat Brugge.

Guardiola describes the game as a final, adding that the simple nature of the qualification picture - win or go out - is an 'opportunity'. He refused to answer questions about not qualifying for the next round because he believes City will make the play-off round.

But it was a question about the financial implications of crashing out that elicited the most telling response.

"I don't know, I didn't speak with my CEO about that," he began. "[But] in the last two or three years or four years, always we go into the transfer windows, always saying the budget is always positive.

"Of course, I'm not naive enough to know that how important it is financially for the club to go through in this competition. But sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. But of course, we want to try to go through, especially for sportive reasons."

Guardiola went on, suggesting that failure to qualify - and the money that comes with it - will not drastically impact City's longer-term transfer plans given their positive net spend in recent years that he has referenced a lot recently - even if City have spent over £125m in the transfer market this month to alter those figures.

He said: "I'd say five, six years, the net spend has been