Pep Guardiola has pinpointed the things Manchester City have to improve in order to win the Champions League.
The Blues can take a huge step towards qualifying for the knock-out phase if they beat Atalanta at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night.
But at the weekend the manager said that his team is not yet ready to lift the elite European prize, despite the vast investment in his squad.
Asked what he meant in a press conference on Monday, Guardiola said: "I’m very confident, I have full trust in my team but there’s a lot of strong teams. The Champions League will be won in the box and so far we’ve not been very strong in the box.
“We’ve made mistakes we shouldn’t make at this level, for example."
City’s hierarchy have always stressed that the Premier League I the priority for Guardiola, but it has become apparent that winning in Europe has taken on a new status.
The Blues have won consecutive league titles and last season cleaned up all the domestic trophies, but success in the Champions League has eluded them.
Their best performance came under Manuel Pellegrini four seasons ago, when they lost to Real Madrid in the semi-finals.
Asked why City should not expect better in Europe, Guardiola said: “I answered in the first press conference here four years ago. We’re going to try but I don’t know if we’ll win. If we don’t [win], we’ll try again next season.
“I never played one game without thinking I can’t win, but I played every game thinking I could lose. I don’t know but we’ll try.”
