Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City's Champions League clash with Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday is more important than Sunday's derby against Manchester United.
City are looking to take another stride towards qualification for the last 16 in the European competition by repeating last month's victory over Shakhtar in Ukraine on home soil.
Guardiola insists the game is currently his sole focus and is not yet looking ahead to this weekend's more-hyped Premier League contest.
The City manager said: "Every game is important and you have to evaluate. The most important will be Shakhtar, first because it is the next one and second because it is a final.
"After dropping points against Lyon, every game is a final. We have a big chance to make an incredible step to qualify for the next round and after we have three or four days to think about United."
City have bounced back from their loss to Lyon in their Group F opener with back-to-back away wins over Hoffenheim and Shakhtar.
It is almost a year, however, since they last won a Champions League game at home. They have actually lost their last three at the Etihad Stadium, stretching back to defeats by Basel and Liverpool last season.
Guardiola said: "It's also really difficult to win away and we won the last two away. I don't count.
"Every game is completely different. We have a big chance to go to the next round. We feel more comfortable playing home than away and I prefer to play here than in Donetsk, for example."
City have been eliminated at the last-16 stage and the quarter-finals in Guardiola's previous two seasons in charge. The Spaniard, who won the competition twice as Barcelona boss, feels success is now tougher to achieve than previously.
He said: "People say it's not enough but in my opinion to reach the quarter-finals is already a big success today.
"Big clubs are going to be out, they're not going to qualify for the next round so going through is already a big achievement.
"My feelings from playing in it 10 seasons ago is that every season it's tougher. The teams are stronger, more well prepared - wherever you go the opponent is tough.
"I don't know if it's the toughest one but I have the feeling every season that the players, teams, managers and clubs are stronger, the desire is higher and it's more complicated."
Meanwhile, Guardiola said that he "trusts" Manchester City as they again defended themselves from accusations they have tried to cheat European football's Financial Fair Play rules.
Last week, German magazine Der Spiegel published a story which claimed the Premier League leaders struck a secret deal with European football's governing body UEFA in 2014 to avoid a potential Champions League ban for breaching FFP regulations.
City said at the time the original magazine article was published that they would not be commenting and that the attempt to damage their reputation was "organised and clear".
On Monday, Der Spiegel published a new article on what it alleges are City's attempts to deceive UEFA by channelling millions of pounds of their owner Sheikh Mansour's immense wealth into the club via their Abu Dhabi-based sponsors.
LaLiga, the Spanish top flight, has said that if UEFA does not act, it will "launch a complaint with EU competition authorities" and said it could not rule out calling for an investigation.
Guardiola was asked about the claims and said: "The club has made a statement on Friday about what happened, stolen emails. Of course I trust the club, what they have done.
"Of course we want to follow the rules. UEFA, FIFA and the Premier League, they do what they have to do. Believe me, I'm completely honest, I don't know what happened, I'm a manager, focused on the pitch, the locker room.
"I am a manager. I'm completely out of how we handle this situation. I'm part of the club, I support the club. We want to do what we have to do in terms of the rules.
Guardiola added that City "have to live with" suggestions they have bought their success, but that he considered that view "completely wrong".
Citing emails between City bosses that it claims to have obtained, Der Spiegel alleges that Sheikh Mansour, a senior member of Abu Dhabi's royal family, has been topping up City's already lucrative sponsorship deals with Emirati companies with his own money - which if true would be a clear breach of FFP's rules against "related parties" pumping cash into clubs.
The second part of Der Spiegel's series was released on Tuesday and alleged that City set up a project group to circumvent FFP rules. City responded to Der Spiegel's latest report by reissuing the statement they first released last week.
UEFA said it "cannot comment on specific cases due to confidentiality obligations" but the governing body is certain to come under pressure in the coming weeks to reopen its FFP investigation into City's finances.
