Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola understands the beauty of the Champions League, but prefers his team to win the league.

City played for the first time since being crowned Premier League champions when beat Swansea 5-0 on Sunday, a dominant win with four games remaining in the season.

A 5-1 aggregate defeat to Liverpool in the Champions League quarter-finals threatened to take some of the gloss off Guardiola’s achievement this season but the Spaniard feels Premier League success is the best way to establish City as one of the biggest clubs in Europe.

“Believe me, I dream to play the semi-final of the Champions League, the final or win it,” he said.

“I know when I was a player and there twice as a manager you feel the most beautiful. I know how beautiful it is to finish the season with that trophy.

“But I prefer to have a team who is there every day like a machine, every day. Good conditions or bad conditions, home or away.”

He added: “When a team in a decade wins eight or nine times, that is top. That is why always in the next season I want to be focused in the Premier League. From pre-season and in the first and second games.”