Ninety-six hours before Manchester City's do-or-die UEFA Champions League game at home to Club Brugge, Pep Guardiola took the unusual step of effectively confirming a selection decision.John Stones will start a game where anything less than three points for the 2022/23 winners will end their participation before the knockout stages.

Pep Guardiola says Manchester City will embrace the "challenge" of Wednesday's must-win Champions League clash against Club Brugge and is confident they will make the knockout stages.Guardiola has never failed to reach the Champions League knockout stages in his career as a manager and he said Tuesday he was confident his side would progress.

With Manchester City needing a win to avoid a stunning early exit from the Champions League, Pep Guardiola wasn’t in the mood to discuss the prospect of his once-dominant team crashing out of European club soccer’s most prestigious competition.