Pep: Critics Will Kill Us If We Lose

Pep Guardiola has encouraged his Manchester City team embrace and enjoy their Champions League Final 16 tie with Monaco tonight, and claims that their critics will "kill them" if they fail to progress to the next round. 

During his time as manager of Barcelona and Bayern Munich, Guardiola was in charge of seven Champions League campaigns, reaching at least the semi finals every time, coming away as winner twice. 

As a club, Manchester City are very inexperienced in the Champions League, having progressed past the group stage just four times and reaching the semi finals just once, which ended in defeat to Real Madrid last season. This lack of experience and success in the competition sometimes burdens the players on European nights, as a sense of anxiety and expectation from fans and the media can also be seen within the team. 

Guardiola is looking to expel those feelings amongst his players, saying that he wants to "convince the players to enjoy the moment. It is beautiful." 

After Arsenal's heavy first leg defeat to Bayern Munich, and Leicester City considered huge underdogs, Manchester City will be seen by many as England's best chance of winning the competition this season.