Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has insisted to his players that the Champions League is an "important" tournament for the team this season.

The two-time Premier League winners will face Steaua Bucuresti in the first leg of their playoff tie in Romania this evening.

City, who reached the semi-finals of the tournament under former manager Manuel Pellegrini last season, need to defeat their opponents across two legs in order to reach the group stages.

The North-West outfit have never won the elite trophy, but they could become major contenders for the crown this season given that Guardiola has won two as a manager.

"I enjoy my job preparing the games, seeing what is going to happen and anticipating what the players are going to find during the game, and trying to find solutions - that is my job," Sky Sports News quotes Guardiola as saying.

"I saw enough games about Steaua. I have a lot of respect about how they play and we are going to try to score goals because in the Champions League scoring goals away is so, so important. But you know you have one more game next week in Manchester.

"Of course it is also convincing the players how important it is to play in the Champions League, how beautiful it is to play during the season in Europe. We are going to try to do that."

Guardiola took over at City in the summer following a three-year spell at Bayern Munich.