De Bruyne less Man City face Leipzig on Wednesday in Champions League

Spanish manager Pep Guardiola thinks the expectations of him are so high that he will be regarded as a failure even if he wins the Champions League during his time as Manchester City manager.

Guardiola’s City resume their bid to win the Champions League for the first time on Wednesday when they take on RB Leipzig in the first leg of their round-of-16 tie.

Despite the absence of Kevin De Bruyne and Aymeric Laporte due to illness, Guardiola is optimistic of progressing. “The team is there, I’ve got that feeling,” he said.

During Guardiola’s six full campaigns at the club, City have reached the final once, in 2021, when they lost to Chelsea.

Three of their exits came at the quarter-final stage, on one occasion they reached the semi-finals and in Guardiola’s first season, City were eliminated in the last 16 by Monaco.

Even if his team go on to lift the trophy in Istanbul this season, Guardiola thinks that it will not satisfy the critics outside the club who say that he should have won the trophy many times with City already.

 “People say because we have this name or whatever [City should win it], but I always have the feeling it’s so difficult to do that [win the Champions League]. Every season it’s more and more difficult,” Guardiola said.

“We want to do our best and get to the quarter-finals but what is going to happen is going to happen. At the end of the day, our destiny is already written. Sometimes we have been close, sometimes not.

 “Whatever I have done personally in the past or in the future, I am going to fail. Nothing will be enough.”

Guardiola, who won the Champions League twice as a manager with Barcelona, adopted this position after taking charge of City.

“When I learnt that, [I decided to] just have fun,” he said. “I will just enjoy being in this press conference, then after a nice dinner with good wine and watch Liverpool v Real Madrid and a little bit Napoli [v Eintracht Frankfurt], prepare well for the game and say: ‘Let’s go guys. Let’s try to do it again.’ ”

De Bruyne and Laporte have been left at home to help them recover from their respective illnesses while John Stones is also out with a hamstring injury.

“Losing both [is a blow],” Guardiola said. “Kevin didn’t feel right after the game against Nottingham Forest and yesterday Ayme didn’t feel good. It happens sometimes.”

Marco Rose, the Leipzig head coach, played down the impact of De Bruyne’s absence and highlighted Erling Haaland as the most potent threat in Guardiola’s squad.

Rose knows Haaland well, having coached the Norwegian for two spells, first when he was aged 18 at RB Salzburg and then for the striker’s final season at Borussia Dortmund.

 “His body was different then,” Rose said. “Now you see him and he looks like Thor. But after a couple of months at Salzburg you could see his quality.

“I remember after scoring in one game for us, he left us to go to the Under-20 World Cup and he scored nine goals, so it was a good start for him and now he’s a world-class player playing for one of the best teams in the world.

“I think his mentality is such that when he sees the goal, he gets crazy about scoring. He works hard for the team and has improved a lot in the technical side of his game and his movement.”

Leipzig are enjoying a good season under Rose, who replaced Domenico Tedesco as manager in September.

Rose’s energetic team — who are dangerous on the counterattack — are fifth in the Bundesliga, only five points behind the leaders, Bayern Munich, and they defeated Real Madrid at home in the Champions League group stages.

Last season Leipzig beat City 2-1 at home in a dead rubber to qualify for the knockout stages.

 “We will suffer but we should enjoy it,” Rose said. “We need to have fun defending, close down spaces, interrupt their play, and then take advantage of certain chances. There will be spaces. When we have the ball we have to be brave, attack and be dangerous.”

About 2,500 City fans have travelled to the eastern German city for the match, which is a 47,000 sell out. Leipzig warned supporters that they should get to the stadium early as local buses and trams are on strike. “Get here as early as possible or ride your bicycle here,” a spokesperson for Leipzig said before Tuesday’s press conference.