Soccer Football - FA Cup - Semi Final - Nottingham Forest v Manchester City - Wembley Stadium, London, Britain - April 27, 2025 Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola before the match REUTERS/David Klein
LONDON (Reuters) -Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola was in little mood to dwell on reaching a third successive FA Cup final after beating Nottingham Forest on Sunday, with his thoughts quickly turning to the race to secure Champions League football next term.
The all-conquering City machine went haywire earlier this season, losing five straight games and nine of 12 in all competitions from the end of October to leave them well off the pace in the Premier League.
City have recently found something approaching their best form, putting together a six-game unbeaten run in the league to give them a good chance of finishing in the top five and guarantee a place in Europe's premier club competition.
Guardiola said a return to the Champions League and another FA Cup final would still not make up for a disappointing season, though, telling reporters that City's success would always be measured by their league performance.
He also joked that City were "a thousand, million points behind Liverpool", who were crowned Premier League champions on Sunday with four games to spare.
But the Spanish manager urged his players to focus on what could be salvaged from this campaign, starting with Friday's game against a resurgent Wolverhampton Wanderers, which Guardiola described as the first of "four finals" in the league.
"The most important thing (is) qualification for the Champions League. We have to be calm now," he told reporters.
Guardiola also welcomed City receiving a few slices of luck in the closing stages of their semi-final victory over Forest, who struck the woodwork three times through Morgan Gibbs-White and Taiwo Awoniyi.
"A few months ago, the (shots) go inside, that's for sure," he told ITV. "Everything is in the head, in the minds of the players."
While Guardiola will count this season as a failure even with another FA Cup triumph, their rivals may be concerned if City can add some good fortune to their returning good form.
(Reporting by Sam Tobin, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
