Pep Guardiola reminds Man City to appreciate what they have - not focus on what they don't

Every year when the final weeks of the season roll around, players and managers still involved in title battles and the latter stages of competitions are asked the same thing: would you rather win the league title or the Champions League?

During his six seasons as Manchester City manager, it's a question that Pep Guardiola has never really been able to escape. The Catalan's love affair with Europe's premier club competition is no secret; he was a key member of Johan Cruyff's Barcelona 'dream team' that won the European Cup for the first time in the club's history.

In 2009 Guardiola led Barcelona to victory in Rome, this time as manager, becoming only the sixth person in history to win the men's competition as both a player and manager. Two years later he won it again, managing arguably the greatest club side in the history of the game.

It's now been 11 years since Guardiola lifted the famous trophy, having failed to win the Champions League with either Bayern Munich or City. Claims that City only hired Guardiola in an attempt to win the competition are wrong, but there is no doubt that both club and coach are desperate to do so.

Regardless, Guardiola's tenure at the Etihad has been a roaring success. He has guided the Blues to three Premier League titles - if everything goes to plan on Sunday it will be four - four League Cups, one FA Cup and a maiden Champions League final. A peculiarity of Guardiola's City is that every year they seem to find increasingly traumatic ways of failing in the Champions League, this season's semi-final collapse in Madrid one of the worst.

Gallery: Ranked! The 10 best players who won't be going to the World Cup (FourFourTwo)

If some people's minds, rare slip-ups like that render City's