MONACO -- There is a contradiction in Pep Guardiola's approach to the Champions League with Manchester City, perhaps even a deliberate attempt to diminish expectations, but the mask finally slipped in Monte Carlo.
Rarely a game has passed in the competition this season without the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach shaking his head and calling for patience by reminding anybody who wants to listen that City's lack of European pedigree counts against them when facing the Champions League elite.
Yet this is a serial winner, a man who is also quick to remind the world that he won "21 titles in seven years" before arriving at City last summer, so it seemed counterintuitive for Guardiola to throw a wet blanket over any suggestion that his new team can not only rub shoulders with Barca, Bayern and Real Madrid, but beat them to the biggest prize in club football.