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My job on the line if City don’t win Champions League: Pep Guardiola

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said his job at the English Premier League champions may be on the line if they fail to win this season's Champions League.

City have lifted five major domestic trophies since Guardiola took over in 2016 - including two EPL titles and a historic domestic treble last year.

But they have never progressed past the quarter-finals of the Champions League since the Spaniard's arrival.

Former European champions Real Madrid await in the last 16 this season, with the first leg to be played in two weeks.

Guardiola is keen to get his hands on the trophy he last won with Barcelona in 2011.

"I want to win the Champions League," Guardiola told Sky Sports.

"I dream (of it) and I'll enjoy preparing for the games against Madrid... This process, two weeks before, will be the happiest moments of my profession, to imagine what we can do to beat them.

"If we don't beat them, OK, come the chairman or the sport director and say, 'It's not good enough, we want the Champions League, I'm going to sack you'.

"(I would say) 'OK, thank you, it was a pleasure'. I don't know (if that would happen). It has happened many times and could maybe happen."

SEASON NOT A FAILURE

City's hopes of winning the EPL title for a third consecutive season have faded in recent weeks, with league leaders Liverpool 22 points ahead of them.

The Spaniard, however, does not think their season has been a complete failure.

"You say the season is a disaster but, if you win the Champions League, it will be exceptional. Why? It's difficult to win it," he said.

"If you don't, we can say in more than 100 years of history (there) were 100 failure seasons for Manchester City. That's not true."

Guardiola's men, who do not have a game this weekend, are also on course to retain the FA and League Cups.

They face Aston Villa in the League Cup final on March 1, three days before an FA Cup fifth-round tie against Sheffield Wednesday. - REUTERS

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