Pep Guardiola has insisted he's a fan of the new Champions League format after Manchester City beat Club Brugge to make the play-offs of the competition on Wednesday night.
The 2023 winners went into the game knowing they had to claim all three points to qualify for the next phase of the competition.
City suffered a setback just before the interval, with Raphael Onyedika giving the visitors a shock lead.
However, Guardiola's side then came roaring back with Mateo Kovacic and Savinho on target either side of a Joel Ordonez own goal.
Pep Guardiola has insisted he's a fan of the new Champions League format after Manchester City beat Club Brugge to make the play-offs of the competition on Wednesday night
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City are now through to the play-offs of the competition, where they'll face either Bayern Munich or Real Madrid.
The new Champions League format for the 2024/25 season has divided opinion, with some fans on board and others preferring the way things used to be.
And Guardiola has now revealed he's happy with the new format, even if his City side have plenty of work to do in order to win the competition for a second time.
The Spaniard, when quizzed on his thoughts, responded by saying: "I like it.
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"We suffered a lot but in the last game how many important teams can be out, it’s nice.
“We play more games in November, December and when we are not ready, we suffer.
“In the future more important teams will live what we live this season. Or maybe not because they will realise that if we are not ready at the beginning of the season, we could be out.
“We were 45 minutes away from being out. It’s an incredible lesson for all the clubs and me, nothing is for granted. It’s so difficult.
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“Look at Brugge, how incredible a team they are. Today is okay. Congratulations to the team because still they have pride.”
Guardiola also hailed his City side for their fighting spirit and reserved special praise for Savinho, insisting the winger provided them with a 'spark'.
"We were out. When you are out, you play with nothing to lose," he continued.
“We go forward. The first half was so dynamic but we missed the spark.
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Pep Guardiola has hailed Savinho after Man City beat Club Brugge to make the Champions League play-offs
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"Savinho help us like all the season when he play there. He was unbelievable. He changed the game and after five or ten minutes had won two or three corners. Our crowd reacted and we had the chances.
“The way we play that way, Brugge had more chances in the second half than the first.
"In the first half when they were so tight and defended with man to man marking, we needed the quality, the spark, the one player to make the individual action to score and we missed it.
“Maybe we felt the pressure. Sometimes you are winning 2-0, you are scared to lose. When you are 1-0 down and out of the Champions League, you have nothing to lose.
Pep Guardiola was pleased to see Man City beat Club Brugge and keep their hopes of Champions League glory alive
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“In the right moments we found the goals. It has been a really tough group stage because the game against Inter was really good.
“It was not easy to win at Juventus or PSG. We did it, we are there. In two weeks we will be better than we are now because players will be back and we will have the new signings.
"We will play one of two giants [Bayern Munich or Real Madrid]. We’ll see what happens and how we arrive.”
