Pep Guardiola is not sold on the new Champions League format after Manchester City has scraped any of the play-offs, but he believes that the experience has been an “incredible lesson”.
City had to come from behind in the must-win collision with Clubbrugge in the Etihad Stadium, while the strike by Raphael Onyedika brought them to the edge of a humiliating exit.
Mateo Kovacic and Savinho scored on either side of Joel Ordonez's own goal in the second half, although, as City progressed to the knockout rounds of the Champions League for a 12th consecutive season.
Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain are the only other teams to achieve that performance in every campaign since 2013-14.
But City ended an underwhelming 22nd in the new look, 36-team table, behind Celtic, Feyenoord, Brest, PSV and Lille.
“I would say I don't like it because we suffer a lot,” said Guardiola of the new format, after City ended with three victories and two draws from eight games.
“We were on the perch, 45 minutes to be out. It is an incredible lesson for me and the players that nothing is self -evident.”
City will be confronted with Bayern or Madrid in a heavyweight play-off tie, with the draw that must be made in Switzerland on Friday.
Although the form of City is not predicting this season well for a meeting with one of those parties, Guardiola will at least have reinforcements available.
New signing sessions Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov and Vorror Reis were not eligible to play in the competition phase, but are eligible for the Play-Off tie, while they also hope to restore a selection of injured players.
“We will be better in two weeks,” said Guardiola. “Players are coming back, we have new signing sessions.”
Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti said he would rather avoid a meeting with the city after Los Blancos defeated Brest 3-0, but Guardiola was careful with the opportunities of the city.
“I don't know if they like to play against us, it's what it is. One is the king of the competition, the other is the second or third king,” Guardiola said about Madrid, who has 15 European titles and Bayern, who have six.
“We play this competition with a thousand million problems. They are favorites, yes, they are now better than we do.”
Guardiola responded to the Vechtback of City: “The first half was so academic, we missed a spark, Savinho helped us. He changed the game, after five minutes created two or three corners.
“Sometimes you win 2-0 or 3-0, you are afraid to lose. You are 1-0 down, from the Champions League, and in the right times we have found the goals.”
Bruges also demolished in the play-offs despite their loss and finished 24th on target difference when Stuttgart stopped.
They will be confronted with Atalanta or Borussia Dortmund in the next round.
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