Pep Guardiola Continues to Lower Champions League Expectations Insisting City 'Don't Have Enough'

Pep Guardiola admits that Manchester City are in many ways "still not ready" to compete with the best teams in Europe for the Champions League.

City are favourites with many bookies but they have not started this season's group stage like future champions. They lost at home to Lyon on matchday one and needed a late David Silva goal to beat tournament debutants Hoffenheim in Germany last time out.

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Guardiola's team are in the Ukraine to face Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday, and the Spaniard claims that his team still lack the necessary experience to compete with Europe's best.

"We'll put more efforts into winning this competition. I saw last season and this that in many circumstances we are still not ready to win it. That's what I feel," said Guardiola, quoted by the Evening Standard.

"That doesn't mean we are not going to try, but to win this competition it's not enough just to have desire, or wanting to win. You have to have many circumstances, have experience and still we don't have enough in some moments.

"That's not enough that the manager wants to win it, it's not just the players. You have to have the desire - the club, chairman, owner, the fans, everyone has to push to be closer, to achieve the next stages. When it happens, everyone will feel it."

City broke all records on their way to winning the Premier League last season but failed to transfer their domestic form into continental success. They were eliminated 5-1 on aggregate by Liverpool in the quarter finals.

The furthest City have been in the Champions League was the semi finals in 2015/16, when they lost to Real Madrid.