Riyad Mahrez reveals Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona made him fall in love with the Champions League 

Manchester City’s record signing Riyad Mahrez has revealed he was turned onto the Champions League by Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona.

City are bidding to become European champions for the first time under Guardiola, who won the trophy twice with Barca in 2009 and 2011. Their quarter-final first leg is against Tottenham at the new White Hart Lane on Tuesday.

‘I have a lot of Champions League memories from the era when Barcelona were shining,’ said Mahrez. ‘I always dreamed of playing in it, I reached this stage once with Leicester, now I hope we can go to the semi-finals and final.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola won the competition in 2009 and 2011

‘Winning it would be really incredible. I’ve always wanted to win this type of competition. If it’s not this year, I think it will be next year. We’ll have to beat Tottenham first and then we’ll see. To be honest, it is normal for that to come into your head. You could win the Champions League and the Premier League, but you could also lose it all.’

Mahrez was City’s only major signing last summer and has had to change his game under Guardiola despite being player of the year when Leicester won the Premier League in 2016.

‘Things are a little bit different with Pep. He likes us to stick to the touchline, while I used to enjoy cutting inside. It’s different, but you have to adapt. I can both stick to the line and cut inside,’ said Mahrez.

‘It’s a learning process, you learn different things from different coaches, as their approaches to the game aren’t the same. That’s our role.

Mahrez and Guardiola are bidding to make City European champions for the first time

‘Our squad includes potential starters only, everybody is good enough to play. We have two really good players in each position, so it’s great. Everybody challenges each other and tries to help one another improve. There’s competition among us and I think it’s a good thing.

‘It [moving to City] was important for me because I think I’d seen it all at Leicester [City FC]. I needed to experience something different, and to make a step up. I think this club was the perfect one for me. I also had the desire to work with Pep, so a lot of aspects played a part in my decision. There’s obviously plenty of quality, even in training.’

If City progress, they could end up meeting Barcelona whose star player Lionel Messi is one of Mahrez’s favourites alongside Arjen Robben and Hatem Ben Arfa.