Manchester City are one game away from the Champions League quarter-finals and there will be some famous names missing if they make it
Pep Guardiola routinely uses history to play down Manchester City expectations for the Champions League.
“Our great success as a club was the Champions League semi-final, in all our history. I don’t know whether we are ready, it’s the truth, I don’t know,” he said back in October after another manager had mooted the Blues as favorites.
“My favourites are the teams that have a history bigger than us – Real Madrid, Barcelona, these teams.
“I believe Juventus buying Cristiano [Ronaldo] wanted to show that this year they want to win. They reached the final twice, each time they get closer.
“Atletico Madrid will be playing at home [if they reach the final]. It’s a team that did very well in the last few years. And then some other team will be in, and I hope we can be there too.”
City’s two European exits under Guardiola have seen them fail to rise to the occasion, but the argument for a lack of experience is growing weaker as the tournament progresses – especially with Real Madrid’s shock defeat.
The loss of the most successful team of the tournament means that just seven of the sides left in have lifted the trophy since it became the Champions League in 1992. Of those, one of Bayern Munich and Liverpool is guaranteed to exit at the last-16 stage and Juventus, United and Porto all trail after the first leg.
Feasibly, City’s seven potential opponents for the quarter-final could be Tottenham (0 Champions League wins), Ajax (1 – in 1995), PSG (0), Bayern (2), Roma (0), Atletico (0) and Barcelona (4)