Xavi Hernandez expects Manchester City to target the Champions League in the second half of the season.
City beat Sheffield United 2-0 on Sunday but Liverpool's 1-0 defeat of Wolves means the reigning Premier League champions remain 14 points adrift of Jurgen Klopp's side, who have played a game fewer.
City are through to the League Cup semi-finals and will begin their FA Cup campaign against Port Vale in the third round this weekend.
"Pep is a born winner," the Al Sadd manager told the Daily Mirror.
“It will hurt him that Manchester City are so far behind Liverpool in the league - and he won’t give up.
“He will be realistic, though. The gap is a big one and at the moment it doesn’t look likely that they can make it three titles in a row. With that in mind, I think there’s a big chance Pep will prioritise the Champions League.
“They will be two big games coming up against Real Madrid [in the round of 16] - and maybe there will be a chance to rest players before these games that they wouldn’t have if they were in a title race.
“Pep will want to win every trophy that he can - but if you’d asked him at the start of the season what he would prefer, I’m sure he would have said the Champions League.
“He joked with [Jurgen] Klopp that maybe Manchester City and Liverpool should swap trophies this year - but there was some truth in that joke, I think.
“He’s won every trophy in England with Manchester City and he knows that winning the Champions League with them would take them to the next level as a club.”
