Guardiola told Man City must solve problem as important as beating Real Madrid

Manchester City heading to Madrid on Wednesday will be billed as the game to save their season.

It will all be about if they can turn around the Champions League play-off tie to keep alive their hopes of winning the European Cup. But, in fact, Saturday evening’s clash with Newcastle might just be as important.

That’s because it will have a big say on whether Pep Guardiola’s side are in the competition next season. Obviously if City were to go all the way this season then they will automatically qualify next term - but that’s a long way off.

They host the Magpies in a huge game in the top-four battle. This is unfamiliar territory for Guardiola and Co. Usually they are either running away with the title race or mounting a late charge to beat their rivals on the line.

Now they’re worrying if they will be mixing it with the giants of Europe next season. For City not to be in the Champions League is almost inconceivable. But if they lose to Newcastle then suddenly it will become a real possibility.

How happy will Erling Haaland - as he chases down goal records in the Champions League - be if he’s playing on Thursday nights in the Europa League? That 10-year contract he has signed might not be so sweet for him then. He won’t be the only player angry to be playing in Europe’s second tier.

Also - depending on whatever happens with their Premier League charges - the plan is to spend more on their squad to get back to their best this summer. That might be a little trickier to do and stay within Profit and Sustainability Rules if they don’t have Champions League money flowing through the club.

Now City and concerns about money are not usually in the same sentence. But will it be harder to convince the best players - which City are only in the market for - to come if they’re not in Europe’s top competition? We’re sure the wages may make them forget but it just makes negotiations that bit more difficult.

So while eyes may already be turning to Wednesday’s huge second leg with Real Madrid and the 3-2 deficit they have to overturn, they can’t lose focus on the arrival of Eddie Howe’s side. That may be difficult for Guardiola. Especially after he got hammered in the Spanish press in the aftermath of the home defeat by Madrid. He will want to prove them all wrong on Wednesday.

Questions have been raised if he has run out of answers to the questions being posed to his misfiring City side. Has he run out of ways to solve problems? Could he even walk away from the job in the summer if things continue to go south?

You get the feeling that would become a bigger possibility if they were to drop out of the Champions League for next season. Falling to seventh if they were to lose to Newcastle and Bournemouth beat Southampton would be a huge moment in what could turn out to be an annus horribilis.

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There are pillars which block the view to goals in the main stand depending on where you are sitting.

While the press box seats are so out of date that journalists complained about them way back in 1966 when Goodison Park staged World Cup games. The Archibald Leitch-designed stadium is old and aged but my word will it be missed.

The noise when James Tarkowski scored an equaliser against Liverpool for Everton in the eighth-minute of stoppage time was something else. The Grand Old Lady rocked to its very old foundations.

Everton have to move on to their new stadium. They’ve stood still for too long in the L4 area of Liverpool. But while their new stadium on Bramley Moore Dock will be great for the club, you cannot deny we are losing a great football cathedral.

Football is losing some of its great grounds and once they’re gone they will be missed.

Arne Slot not claiming an FA Cup exit against Plymouth was a blessing in disguise for Liverpool.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe making even more staff redundant at Manchester United while paying underperforming players millions.