Manchester City have qualified for the play-off for the round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League by beating Club Brugge 3-1 in a match last Wednesday, January 29.
Both Mateo Kovacic and Savinho scored for the Cityzens, as Club Brugge scored an own goal to make the hosts’ job easier.
Pep Guardiola’s men will face Real Madrid to qualify for the next round. Their failure to qualify directly means that they will have to go through a litmus test quite early in the competition.
Ordinary Manchester City Champions League Campaign So Far
City have won only three of their eight UCL matches so far and have lost three as well.
It is a pretty ordinary record for a team of their calibre. The fact that they had to wait till the last match of the group stage to qualify for the playoffs shows how pedestrian they have been.
Manchester City’s underwhelming run have put them in danger of not being able to qualify for next season’s Champions League as well.
They find themselves in fourth position in the Premier League table at the moment, which should be good enough for them to qualify.
However, both Newcastle United and Chelsea are breathing down the Sky Blues’ neck with only a point separating them at the moment.
As Manchester City are almost out of the title race in Premier League, winning the Champions League is something that can salvage their season, given the standards they have set in the recent past.
However, playing a team as fancied as Real or Bayern should not be an easy task at all.
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City are Still Tough to Face
However wobbly their form might have been, no team will be willing to face the Cityzens in the European competition.
Real Madrid have had a great rivalry with them in the recent past and have virtually fought for supremacy in Europe in the recent past.
Football lovers will not mind watching yet another episode in their rivalry this year, but it will be really harsh for the team that loses out.
The same goes for Bayern Munich, who have also been quite successful traditionally in Europe’s premier club competition.
Manchester City knocked Bayern out last season in the Champions League and hence, the German giants would be gunning for revenge had they been drawn together
Guardiola’s men would have felt that they were the underdogs against either team in the play-off.
However, with the star-studded team that City have, they will always be in with a chance in any crucial match-up.
If they play anywhere near their potential, any team in the world will find it really difficult to get past them.
It remains to be seen whether City are able to make amends by doing really well in the UCL this season.
They have already won the competition once under Guardiola and finished runners-up on another occasion.
The history is in their favour, but they will have to play close to their potential to turn things around.
Main Photo
Credit: IMAGO / Sportimage
Recording Date: 24.10.2024
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