City boost Champions League hopes with 2-1 win

Pep Guardiola celebrated wildly as Manchester City took a big step toward Champions League qualification with a 2-1 victory over Aston Villa in the Premier League.

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With clenched fists, the City manager roared with delight after Matheus Nunes struck deep into stoppage time at the Etihad Stadium.

“I was so happy. I have to admit it,” Guardiola said after a win that could help salvage a troubled season for his once dominant team.

The late winner moved four-time defending league champions City up to third in the standings, with the top five securing a place in European club football’s top competition.

Nunes fired home from a tight angle in the fourth minute of added time after Jeremy Doku’s low cross through the box.

The game had looked destined to end in a draw after Bernardo Silva’s first-half goal had been canceled out by a Marcus Rashford penalty.

There is still likely to be a tense battle for the Champions League with a clutch of teams in contention going into the final weeks of the season and just four points separating third to seventh in the standings.

But City’s fate is in their own hands after a troubled campaign that saw their title defence unravel before Christmas and their hopes of winning the Champions League end in the playoffs.

A top-five finish would go some way to ending the season on a high — and Guardiola’s celebration was evidence of just how important the win could prove to be.

“We have a lot of pressure for the club to go to the Champions League,” said Guardiola, whose City team won the competition for the first time in 2023.

“If we win the next four games, it will have been so important,” he added.

Victory moved City up to 61 points and above Nottingham Forest in fourth and Newcastle in fifth. Chelsea are sixth and Villa, with 57 points, are seventh.