Pep Guardiola, manager of Manchester City, predicted on Monday that his team, which will face Sporting Portugal on Tuesday in the Champions League, will have "difficulties" this season due to numerous injuries in the squad and the increasing quality of their rivals.

What to Expect From Amorim? Sporting Captain Morten Hjulmand Reveals It

"I understand that people expect us to win 30 games by 5-0 all the time, but that doesn’t happen. (…) It’s going to be even harder than in previous seasons; we have more absences," Guardiola said at the press conference in Lisbon ahead of the match against the Portuguese team.

Despite their recent loss in the Premier League against Bournemouth, the Spanish coach highlighted that City is only two points behind the leader, Liverpool, although he noted that the team "needs to improve" in a league where the level "has incredibly risen."

"The teams are very strong, everything is harder, and we have to accept it. That is the challenge. We’ll see how we arrive in the final month with our chances of fighting for the title," he stated.

Regarding Sporting, Guardiola pointed out that it is a team that "does things very well, both in Portugal and in Europe," and emphasized the "joy" of the players under the management of coach Rúben Amorim, who will soon take over at Manchester United.