Guardiola warns City ‘decades behind’ Europe’s elite

WATFORD, United Kingdom: Pep Guardiola insisted that Manchester City are “decades” behind Europe’s largest clubs despite the 5-0 win away to injury-hit Watford that clinched Champions League qualification.

The City manager was delighted with the result on the final day of the Premier League season for one of the richest clubs in world football, but former Barcelona and Bayern Munich head coach Guardiola said that wealth did not count as much as experience and status.

“When Real Madrid and Barcelona want one player other teams cannot compete,” said the Spaniard. “It’s not just money. It’s Real and Barca. (Money) is not enough. To compete against them we need time, decades.

“For years this club (City) was not playing in Europe, and now we’ve been there seven years. But to achieve the next step, the gap is shorter but it’s more difficult — to compete head-to-head against the big clubs in Europe, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Juventus.”

Atletico Madrid made that step but even they could not win the Champions League even though they deserved to.”

Guardiola revealed that Sergio Aguero, who scored twice against Watford and could have had more, will remain at the Etihad Stadium next season, along with captain Vincent Kompany, who opened the scoring with a free header from a corner.

Despite his misgivings about City’s chances against the top clubs in Europe next season, the manager was relieved to have secured third place in the Premier League and so avoided a qualifying