Pep Guardiola has told his Manchester City team to forget about their top-eight permutations in the Champions League and instead focus on beating Galatasaray on Wednesday. 

City face Okan Buruk's side in their final league phase clash at Etihad Stadium, knowing a positive result will give them the best chance of automatically qualifying for the last 16.

The Citizens were stunned 3-1 by Bodo/Glimt last week, leaving them 11th in the 36-team table and outside the top eight on goal difference. 

Guardiola's side are one of eight teams all on 13 points, with the likes of Paris Saint-Germain, Newcastle United, Chelsea and Barcelona all eyeing a spot inside the top eight. 

This will be the first meeting between City and Galatasaray, as well as Guardiola's first ever game against the Turkish giants, and he did not understate the size of the task at hand. 

"I prefer to have more [points] but it is what we deserve. We need to focus and try to win our game, then see what position we finish," Guardiola told reporters.

"We'll see the result in the last 10 minutes, and then we will see [what needs to be done about goal difference]. We have to focus on our game, that's the key.

"We will try to win tomorrow. Galatasaray are leading the Turkish league and all their players are exceptional. We have to make an incredible effort with our fans."

City have lost two of their last three Champions League games (W1), having only lost three of their prior 24 league phase/group stage matches in the competition (W16 D5). 

But they come up against a Galatasaray side who are top of the Turkish Super Lig and have often got the better of Premier League sides in UEFA's flagship competition. 

Indeed, the last English team to beat Galatasaray in the Champions League was Arsenal in December 2014 (4-1).

Since then, Galatasaray are unbeaten in three meetings with English opponents in the competition (W2 D1), including a win over Liverpool earlier this season in the most recent one (1-0 in September 2025).

And part of the Galatasaray team hoping to cause an upset are two former City players in Ilkay Gundogan and Leroy Sane, both of whom played under Guardiola.

Across his two stints with the club, Gundogan made 358 appearances in all competitions for City, with Guardiola only using Ederson (372), Kevin De Bruyne (381) and Bernando Silva (438) in more matches. 

Sane, meanwhile, recorded 81 goal contributions (39 goals, 42 assists) in 135 outings across all competitions during his four-year stint in Manchester before he sealed a switch to Bayern Munich in 2020. 

"I am grateful to both of them. Incredible contributions and lovely people and I am happy to see them back tomorrow," Guardiola added. 

"He [Gundogan] was here longer than Leroy, but Leroy gave us something unique. He was a special player and had a connection with Kevin [De Bruyne]. 

"Gundogan was captain in the treble-winning season and a massive character. A big player in the big games. Top."