Manchester City assistant manager Pep Lijnders has claimed that Pep Guardiola’s ambitions ‘do not have limits’.

With Guardiola suspended after picking up three yellow cards, Lijnders took charge of his team in the FA Cup this weekend. The Blues advanced comfortably after a 10-1 demolition of Exeter.

“The ambitious ones, they don’t have limits,” Lijnders answered on Guardiola’s hunger. “He has passion and ambition.”

After progressing in the FA Cup, City remain active in all four competitions this season. On the ambition of the squad as a whole, Lijnders added: “You have players who have won everything.

“You have Rodri, Bernardo, Ruben, all these guys. Gigio last year won the big one.

“It always helps when you reach finals, when you get into difficult games.

“We want to play as many games as possible this year. Give us the most difficult games because with this we can improve.”

Next up for City is a trip to St James Park for the first leg of their League Cup semi-final against Newcastle. The Blues have been victorious on just one of their last five visits to the stadium.

Lijnders continued: “It would be unbelievable to go to Wembley.

“I always feel that, especially in the beginning of the season, it’s like a trampoline. Everybody is playing, everybody is involved, everybody knows there is a next game because of the League Cup. Now it’s the semi-final and now it’s one leg away.

“We have to put ourselves in a good position to take them home. There’s a long time between, so that’s really strange by the way.

“We want to go to Wembley because we all know that stadium, the history of this club inside the League Cup as well.

“We want to do that again. For players, it’s always like this to gain confidence. It’s the big games.

“It’s going away to Real Madrid and winning there, it’s going to Newcastle and trying to get a good result. We will try that.”