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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said the Champions League was a tougher challenge than any other competition after his team saved a 2-2 draw in Lyon on Tuesday to advance to the round of 16.
The leaders of the Premier League have secured a place in the last 16 games for the sixth season in a row. The heads of Aymeric Laporte and Sergio Aguero have allowed City to recover twice after falling behind Maxwel Cornet.
City needs a point as of his last home game to eliminate Hoffenheim in order to secure first place in group F, although they were lucky enough to avoid a second defeat by Lyon – the only team to score more than once this season.
"Today, the Champions League has shown me again that it was another competition, and for a particular reason, the players are better", said Guardiola.
"That's why every time we think of the Champions League and people say it's easy for Manchester City, they're really confused about it.
"Words are the words – people who say that have never seen a Lyon match, a Hoffenheim match or a Shakhtar match."
City set a Premier League record with 100 points as they headed for the title last quarter. They are again setting the pace this season with 40 goals scored in 13 games and cashed only five times.
"You have time in the Premier League, you have 38 games, here you have 90 minutes, 180 minutes – you make mistakes and they punish you," Guardiola said.
Lyon have already beaten Paris Saint-Germain 15 points in Ligue 1 after just 14 games, but the team of Bruno Genesio has once again pushed City on the whole race by beating them 2 to 1 last September.
"People say in France that it's only PSG, but they do not know how difficult it is in France.The league is so complicated, so good, that's why I gives a lot of credit to the result and performance of today, "said Guardiola.
"I'm really impressed by the amount of good young talent here in France, the two defense circles (Lyon) (Houssem Aouar and Tanguy Ndombele) are exceptional.
"They are strong and they have a vision.The people in front – Depay (Memphis), Fekir (Nabil) … it's a well-organized but typical team of the Champions League."
"We can now focus on the Premier League and other competitions and try to arrive in February with everyone in shape and try to compete with the top 16 teams in Europe," he said. he added.
& # 39; Proud & # 39; Genesio
Lyon must avoid the defeat of Shakhtar Donetsk in their last match to join City in the last 16 games, after the Ukrainians scored the goal of the decisive match to impose 3-2 to Hoffenheim and keep their hopes of qualifying .
"I'm proud to see my team's performance tonight, it's one of the best teams in Europe," said Genesio. "But there is also some frustration that we did not qualify tonight, there was not much in here or in Hoffenheim."
Lyon was hoping for another impressive win over City when Cornet scored his second goal, giving him 2-1, nine minutes to play, but Aguero was tied only two minutes later.
"The players achieved a very high quality display and when we conceded the second goal, I think we were still a bit euphoric and that's what made them score," admitted Genesio.
His team will conclude their group stage against Shakhtar on December 12 in Kharkiv.
"I see it as a final for qualifying, but we're going full of confidence, because we're unbeaten despite a lot of draws."
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