Others have stated that to match Tottenham’s exploits of last season in the Champions League would be a minor achievement. My own personal point of view is that anything less than a quarter-final showing should be deemed as a travesty.
Granted, this City side is still in it’s formative years, but the sheer amount of talent at Mancini’s disposal and the depth of his squad should mean that they at least make it into the latter stages; and by latter stages, I mean the quarter-finals and beyond.
An excuse has already been offered by some – that this is their debut campaign in a competition renowned for valuing experience above all else. The same faces always dominate the latter stages.
However, the majority of City’s have players now have European experience and their best players have all played in the Champions League before for their previous clubs in one way or another – 14 players in total have in fact. They even have players with Champions League winner’s medals, such as Carlos Tevez, Yaya Toure and Mario Balotelli.
City will obviously be a more formidable force in this competition the more they play in it over the years to come, but to downplay their hand this early on would seem a tad fatuous. They have the quality, depth and individual ability to go out and win any football match at the moment.
They will get better with time and will be a serious threat in the next few years, but matching Tottenham’s achievements of last season, for a club with the ambition that City ultimately have, should be the bare minimum of their expectations this term.
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Written by James McManus for Footballfancast.com
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