It's destructive — Guardiola warns Barcelona about Champions League

Legendary Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola has warned his boyhood club against their obsession with the Champions League, warning that it could lead to destruction. 

Guardiola has experienced the pressure at Camp Nou, as he notably captured the club's very first European Cup as a player in the 1991/1992 season before guiding them to two UEFA Champions League titles as a manager in 2008/09 and 2010/11.

Armed with his wealth of knowledge and experience, he urged the hierarchy to measure true progress through consistency in LALIGA.

 "We must not think that just because you don’t win it, everything that has been built is no good. The league is the competition that gives you consistency and continuity," he stated. 

Guardiola believes that navigating European knockout stages require optimal physical condition and are influenced by external factors; hence, failure should not spell doom. 

"In the Champions League, you need to reach the decisive stages in good condition, without injuries, and refereeing also has a huge impact. What matters is that the daily work is excellent... The league is what sets the foundation for judging whether a season has been good or not."  

 Barcelona are enduring a Champions League drought, having last lifted the prestigious trophy during the 2014/15 season. 

Despite recently enjoying spectacular domestic dominance under head coach Hansi Flick, successfully capturing back-to-back LALIGA titles, the Blaugrana environment have a tendency to downplay these league achievements due to their repeated continental disappointments. 

Guardiola warns against this detrimental mentality, drawing from his own extensive managerial career. While he has thoroughly dominated league football throughout his post-Barcelona tenures, capturing numerous league titles with Bayern Munich and Manchester City, he has simultaneously suffered plenty of painful Champions League heartbreaks of his own.