Ilkay Gundogan believes Manchester City need to win the Champions League if they want to count themselves among the elite clubs of Europe.
City have struggled to make a mark in the Champions League despite dominating on the domestic level. Pep Guardiola has previously failed to lead City to European glory since his arrival at the Etihad stadium but would be hoping to put an end to their misery.
The English champions are scheduled to travel to Germany where they will begin their Champions League knockout journey against Schalke. City lost to Liverpool in the quarterfinals last season but are one of the contenders for the coveted trophy.
Gundogan said, “If you want to be in the international elite, when you want to be there both as a club and as a player, you need to clinch this trophy.
“You can’t go past it, at least in my opinion. I think that, if we were to win it someday, the club would enter a new era.
“(It would be lifted) to the same level as Real, Barca, Bayern or Juventus, clubs that are maybe a step above us. Maybe not in the way they play football, but as a club at least.
“Our job is to try and give it our all to make it a reality someday. We’ll try and will hopefully manage that somehow.
“We’ve experienced a lot in the Champions League in recent years – not all of it positive, of course.
We should’ve won it at least once. So, as you can imagine, there’s a very big drive within us to do something in the Champions League
“The biggest low was probably being knocked out by Liverpool last season. For that reason, the motivation to go far in this competition is huge and I think we have the quality required.”
