Pep Guardiola hits back at "f****** failure" idea as he defends Man City record

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has lashed out at those who described the club's unsuccessful Champions League run of 2020/21 as a "f***ing failure".

Guardiola was speaking after his side demolished Sporting CP 5-0 away from home in the first leg of their round of 16 tie with the Portuguese titans.

A brace from Bernardo Silva as well as goals from Riyad Mahrez, Phil Foden and Raheem Sterling were more than enough to effectively seal City's place in the next round of Europe's most elite competition.

The reigning Premier League champions were in a rampant mood and boasted a 4-0 lead by the time the referee blew his whistle to signal for the interval.

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City are yet to win the Champions League in their history despite boasting ludicrous wealth and arguably the best manager on the planet, though they came incredibly close last season.

Guardiola's men toppled the likes of Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund to book their place in the final against Premier League rivals Chelsea - only to lose 1-0 on the night in Lisbon.

A first-half Kai Havertz goal was enough to hand Thomas Tuchel's men a historic victory that secured their second Champions League title.

City were nowhere near their best and were made to pay, but Guardiola has since insisted that run to the final cannot be described as a failure.

"Listen, we made almost the perfect Champions League last season," the City boss explained.

"We played 13 or 14 games I don't know how much it was but we won 12, we draw one when we had already qualified against Porto and we played fantastically well but we lost the final.

"It was 'ah what a f***ing failure' that team - it's not true, we made about a perfect Champions League but the Champions League final we didn't perform as we normally do."

The City manager went on to claim his side still had room for improvement despite the emphatic victory over Sporting.

"I am not going to hide behind the 5-0, we make in general very good things but we didn't read quite well the spaces to attack them.

"The way they move - the space was there and we didn't read it well."

With City's place in the last eight all but secured, they can return their attentions to the Premier League title race.

They welcome Antonio Conte's Tottenham Hotspur to the Etihad on Saturday evening knowing anything less than a win could inspire nearest rivals Liverpool into action