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City manager Pep Guardiola believes the football world would be
merciless in their criticism of his team if they were to fail to beat
Monaco on Tuesday.
City host the Ligue 1 leaders for the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie, and Guardiola knows there will be immense pressure to perform.
The Spaniard never failed to reach the semifinal stage of the competition, during his time at Barcelona and Bayern Munich, and won the competition twice, while in Spain, however, he is remains in awe of the occasion every time.
"All of Europe is going to watch us, to analyse us, to kill us if we don't win, to say how good we are when we win and that experience is beautiful to me," said Guardiola.
"It is not easy to be here. I said many times, in the Champions League the recent history is quite good but Manchester City were not there for a long time. I want the players to enjoy this moment -- because it's beautiful.
"People can think, 'OK, it's Man City, it's English football, the most prestigious football, the most media, the most advertising, and you have to be here.' But a lot of clubs, big clubs, are not here. We have to see that we are lucky guys.
"I always played this competition this way, even at Barcelona and Bayern where they had more experience of the competition. I still thought 'Wow.'"
Meanwhile Guardiola also came to the defence of Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger who has come under increasing pressure after a heavy 5-1 defeat to Bayern Munich.
The former Bayern manager labeled the criticism as unacceptable saying that managers make decisions prior to games with the media criticising their decisions in hindsight after games, which is easier to do.
Kick off is at 21:45.
