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Pep Guardiola has admitted Manchester City are a long way off catching bitter rivals United.

And he claims it will take another TEN years of Champions League football to put the Blues in the same class as their neighbours from Old Trafford.

The Blues' new manager also explained that he came to the Etihad last summer to challenge himself, as success is far from certain at a club without the glamour of United, or his previous clubs Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

Boss Guardiola said: “We don’t have the history with this shirt, of Barcelona, Juventus, Munich or Manchester United. Not their titles.

“It’s about being in Europe and over the next decade to be there [in the Champions League] every year. That’s more important to this club than winning one title, believe me, more than that.

“We have to convince people at this amazing club that they are good. They are good. And the fans as well.

"They have to believe they are good, the club is good, the players are good.”

Guardiola’s comments are sure to shock City fans, and provide ammunition for supporters from along the Mancunian Way.

(Image: Action Images via Reuters) (Image: Getty)

And despite six trophies in the last six years since their Abu Dhabi-based owners made a massive investment in the club, he appeared to offer an even more brutally frank assessment of the job he inherited from Manuel Pellegrini by claiming he came to get out of the comfort zone of guaranteed success.

He told American TV network NBC: “I decided to prove myself. And for my family, to move on from our comfort zone.

(Image: Getty) (Image: Getty)

"So it’s good for everybody.

"That is why I chose Manchester – to prove myself and have a new challenge. If people think, 'Pep’s here; City will win'. No. That's not something you can switch on or off.

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"You need many, many other things to change and we are in the process of doing that.

"It's crazy to think I will transform everything. I came to learn. That’s why I move on. I came to learn.

"If I didn’t feel like that I’d still be in Barcelona."