The qualification for the Champions League would be as good as winning the Premier League trophy for this season according to Matheus Nunes.
The 26-year-old yielded a stop-time winner for City on Tuesday in their 2-1 victory over Aston Villa, who brought them to third place in the table and free four points from the sixth placed Chelsea who played a game more.
Villa remains seventh in the meantime and follow the top five on two points after their defeat.
But because the season was not selected as someone had hoped in Manchester City, the Portuguese acknowledged that another year in Europe's Premier competition would be of enormous importance.
“This is now our Premier League trophy to qualify for the Champions League,” said Nunes. “I think it is extremely important to us in terms of the club, the players and the mentality.
“I think we can't describe how incredible it will be to be in the Champions League, because we can't fight for the Premier League trophy now, so that's our main goal.”
The four remaining league matches of City come against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Southampton, Bournemouth and Fulham, while they are also confronted with Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup semi -final.
What a night on the etihad pic.twitter.com/vai4lxvhys
– Manchester City (@Mancity) April 22, 2025
But despite a potentially positive end to the season, Nunes was adamant that a top five place and cup final would not represent a success for Manchester City.
“Of course I don't mean. We know that the standards of the club are much higher than this,” he said.
“We know that these are not the standards that we want this club to be, but this is now our reality and we have to accept it – and we just have to go for it as if it were the Premier League trophy.
“This is a journey, it's a roller coaster and you have to be prepared for it and of course they [team-mates] and we now have a different purpose than we had at the start of the season.
“They know better than me how important it is to be eligible for the Champions League and that must now be our goal, and we are going to go for it.”