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Pep Guardiola adamant he has improved at Manchester City despite trophy-less season

Pep Guardiola

Pep Guardiola insists he is a better manager despite failing to win a trophy in his first season at Manchester City.

The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich head coach won 21 honours during his respective spells at the Nou Camp and Allianz Arena, underlining his status as one of world football's best coaches.

However, with Sunday's FA Cup semi-final defeat to Arsenal ensuring Guardiola ended a season trophy-less for the first time in his managerial career, his reputation has taken a knock.

But, speaking ahead of Thursday's Manchester derby, Guardiola was adamant his stock had risen after his fruitless debut season at the Etihad.

"I am not a worse manager because I didn't win the title," the City boss told Sky Sports.

"I feel as though I'm a better manager than before because I learned a lot and am more experienced. I've learned to handle situations better than before.

"Normally when something happens for the first time you know why it is the first time, so for it to happen after nine years is amazing. That is what I learned from that - I tried but I was not able.

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"In Spain there are fantastic teams that are not going to win anything this year but that is going to happen across Europe.

"I am expecting to have a long career as a manager and it will happen again one year.

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"I am not at a club who have won a lot of titles like Barcelona, Bayern, Madrid, Inter, Juventus or AC Milan.

"So that's why you have to discover something new and you have to be better and better to win that amount of titles like United, Chelsea and Liverpool - clubs with more history than Manchester City.

"That is why I decided to come here, it's been a big lesson for me. That's why I think about what we have not done well and take the right decision to make be better next season."

Guardiola's appointment at City was supposed to usher in an era of success the like of which had never been seen in the club's history.

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However, faced with the challenges of Premier League football, the Spaniard has failed to deliver what many expected him to do.

City's fortunes have led many to suggest top-flight English football represents a tougher task than that Guardiola faced in Spain and Germany.

But Guardiola rejected the notion and admitted Chelsea and Tottenham - who occupy first and second in the table above City - were simply better this term.

"From my point of the view, the pitch is the same size so the football [in England, Spain and Germany] is quite similar," he added.

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"The better teams and players win and, in the case of this season, Chelsea and Tottenham were better - the same thing happened at Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

"They were the better managers, better players and they beat us. We tried and I do not regret what we did.

"Another team was better than us in that moment and I congratulated them, they deserved it and aim to improve the next season.

"I leave this season with a good lesson to improve next season. I did not come here expecting it would be easy, or expecting to win everything."

Watch Manchester City v Manchester United on Thursday, 7pm, Sky Sports 1 HD

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