City lost 1-0 to top-four rivals Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Saturday (08.03.25) and the coach thinks that securing a spot in Europe's elite competition for next season would be a good achievement in a difficult campaign.

Guardiola said: "Qualification for the Champions League would be a big success but you have to win it.

"I want to qualify for the Champions League. It will not be good [if City miss out] but I saw what happened with other teams in the past in the Premier League.

"Not being in the Champions League would be a problem but there are teams who didn't qualify who have come back and are there."

City could be provided with a safety net by the performances of English teams in Europe earning a fifth spot in the Champions League but the manager claims that this will be irrelevant if his team are unable to go on a winning run in the 10 games they have left this season.

Guardiola said: "Whether there are five or six or seven [places], you have to win games.

"In sport, in knockout games sometimes details make the difference but in the Premier League over 38 games if you are not able to finish in the first four or five it is because we were not good enough."

The manager added that his team has "10 finals" left to win to avoid missing out on Champions League qualification for the first time since he joined the club in 2016.

He said: "We have 10 games to qualify, we have to win games to qualify, and we move on to the next one.

"We knew the game would be difficult. Every season the Premier League gets better and better. We have 10 finals and the next one we start."