Joe Hart says he is driven to shine on the game’s biggest stages and help fulfil the ambition of Manchester City’s Abu Dhabi-based owners.
And it is why the England keeper says his side must fear no one in today’s Champions League last-16 draw.
Having seen his national team land Wales, Russia and Slovakia in next year’s European Championships, Hart is similarly excited about who City, currently leading the Premier League and in the League Cup semi-finals, will face next in their bid to become kings of club football.
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Topping a difficult group containing last year’s beaten finalists Juventus, Sevilla and Borussia Monchengladbach, has heightened expectation and increased belief at the club.
Hart said: “We’ve done all we can to get ourselves a good draw. We’re in a good place. The hope is that we can get a run going and stay in all four competitions for as long as we can. It’d be great for this squad.
“I just want to do well, I just want to perform at all levels. I’m 28 now and I’ve plenty of experience
behind me. I don’t want to settle for what I’ve done. I want to kick on, keep improving, keep playing well for all the teams I play for.
“I want to be playing every game. I want to make it difficult for the manager to leave me out of any game. Willy Caballero does fantastic around this place and with England we have some good keepers. It’s tough to stay as the number one, but I enjoy it.”
Given the fact City have drawn Barcelona twice on their only previous last-16 appearances, it would be no surprise if they were paired with French champions Paris Saint-Germain, arguably the toughest opponents among the group runners-up.
“Probably,” smiled Hart. “But, if so, we’d have to feel we can beat them. There’s no point using excuses, saying we got beat by Barcelona or Bayern Munich.
“If we want to win the cup, which this owner does and we, as players, want to, then we have to beat those kind of teams. We have to have no fear. Sevilla away was a big performance from us, that’s the type of performance we need to be producing more of.
“I thought we were fantastic in the second half against ‘Gladbach last week. We have to take the positives, but let’s not forget we’ve had some bad performances too and we don’t want more of them.”
