Manchester City ace Ilkay Gundogan says the Blues can only be classed as an elite side once they have won the Champions League.
Pep Guardiola’s side go to Schalke on Wednesday for the first leg of their last 16 tie and the pressure is on them to win the biggest prize in European club football.
European glory has eluded them since Sheikh Mansour’s takeover in 2008 and they were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Liverpool last season.
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“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,” Gundogan said.
“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.”
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