Manchester City Prepare for Barcelona and Must Improve on the European Stage

While Manchester City fans might not be overly taken with the UEFA Champions League, the club and its players would certainly like to start making waves in the competition.

Supporters were originally enthused to see the European elite visiting the Etihad to take on their side—but the idea became a little stale over time.

It began with perceived injustices from the competition’s governing body, UEFA. Fans weren’t impressed with the club being fined for breaching Financial Fair Play Regulations, while issues over dealing with matters of racism involving matches with FC Porto and CSKA Moscow only added to the frustrations.

Though it probably helped that, during that time, City just weren’t performing on the big stage.

In their debut season, it was understandable. They perhaps underestimated Napoli in a 1-1 draw in their opening match in the competition, only rescuing a point when Aleksandar Kolarov equalised with a free-kick late on.

Roberto Mancini says Carlos Tevez is ‘finished’ at #mcfc after refusing to come on as a substitute at last nights defeat at Bayern Munich.

— ITV Granada Reports (@GranadaReports) September 28, 2011

Then managed by Roberto Mancini, City travelled to Bayern Munich—their first test against one of the European elite—and lost 2-0, though it was a respectable display in only their second outing. Off the pitch, however, it was a shambles; Carlos Tevez allegedly refused to warm up, starting a spat that would last five months, with the Argentinian heading back home on a self-imposed exile.

Three victories in the final four group matches helped to get the fans settled in the Champions League, even if City failed to qualify for the next stage. They were unfortunate, as their tally of 10 points would have been enough to at least have taken the runners-up spot in all but one of the other tables that season.

But since then, it’s almost like City have been feeling sorry for themselves when push comes to shove.

They didn’t win a game in the following campaign, becoming the first English team to not register a victory in the groups. They were given a tough draw, being pitted with three other champions—Real Madrid had won La Liga, Borussia Dortmund had triumphed in the Bundesliga and Ajax had topped the Eredivisie.

Mancini’s side were English champions, too, though, and should have been far more competitive even in the face of difficult opposition.

It began a run of under-performances in the big games. For all of City’s progress under Manuel Pellegrini in the competition—three times qualifying for the knockout phase and once finding themselves a goal away from making the final—it …

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