The Premier League champions were the favourites to win the new-look competition when it began, but now find themselves on the verge of an early exit
It wasn't supposed to be like this. Manchester City are used to spending the spring in the thick of the Champions League action, plotting their path to the final. They have made it to the showpiece twice in the last four seasons, finally lifting European football's holy grail in 2023 in Istanbul. After missing out Wembley last season after the narrowest of quarter-final eliminations to Real Madrid on penalties, the Cityzens had their eyes set on this year's final in Munich.
But now they are dangerously close to spending those exciting European nights not at a packed Etihad Stadium or in the continent's finest arenas, but in their living rooms, watching on television. After winning just two of their opening seven games in the first edition of the new-look league phase while losing three times – as many defeats as they've suffered across the previous three campaigns – Pep Guardiola's side find themselves 25th in the Champions League standings, on the outside looking in.
Wednesday's enthralling defeat at Paris Saint-Germain was the latest in a series of collapses for City in a logic-defying campaign and has left them needing to beat Club Brugge in their last game to sneak into the play-offs.
If they are unable to beat the Belgians, who have beaten Aston Villa, Sporting CP and drawn with Juventus so far, Guardiola will have no complaints, saying on Wednesday: "We have a last chance against Brugge and if we don't go through it's because we don't deserve it."
But who is to blame? GOAL examines how the modern Champions League experts have managed to make such a mess of their campaign…
GettyRough draw
The Champions League reboot has proved a real shock to City's system, particularly as they were so dominant in the previous group stage. They won six games out of six last season and had finished top of their group for seven consecutive campaigns, often securing their place in the knockout phase with one game to spare, if not two.
Indeed, City's passage from the group stage was generally so routine that even their fans were not fussed about going to games. There were 16,000 empty seats at the Etihad Stadium for a 2021 match with RB Leipzig, prompting a telling off from Guardiola towards those who had stayed away.
This time around, though, Guardiola's side got a tough draw compared to some of their rivals, as they were paired with three European titans in PSG, Juve and Inter, facing the former two away from home. By contrast, Liverpool got to play two of their hardest games, against Bayer Leverkusen and Real Madrid, at Anfield.
Timing has not been on City's side either. They visited Sporting CP when the team was at their peak under Ruben Amorim and were subsequently destroyed in the second half, losing 4-1. Arsenal, meanwhile, headed to Lisbon a couple of weeks later when the hapless Joao Pereira was in charge and won 5-1.
AdvertisementGetty Ederson's errors
There is no hiding from the fact that Ederson has had a terrible Champions League campaign. The only game he performed well in was the opening 0-0 draw with Inter while he sat out the only two games City have won, against Slovan Bratislava and Sparta Prague, before then returning to the team against Sporting CP, when he conceded four goals, including when he was sat down by Viktor Gyokeres for Sporting's equaliser before letting Maximiliano Araujo's strike through his legs.
His performance against Feyenoord three weeks later was truly awful as he was at least partly responsible for the three goals City shipped in the final 15 minutes to draw 3-3. That performance led to Ederson being dropped for the next three league games, although he was back in the team for the trip to Juventus. However, he only underlined exactly why he had been removed from the line up in the first place by spilling Dusan Vlahovic's header over the line.
On Wednesday, Ederson was soft for PSG's second and third goals, and Guardiola must decide whether or not to keep the faith for the do-or-die game against Brugge or turn to Stefan Ortega, who he was furious with after the recent game at Brentford.
GettyNo back-up for Rodri
City's midfield lynchpin Rodri played just one game in the Champions League, the opener against Inter. He suffered his season-ending injury in the very next fixture against Arsenal, which was cruel timing given in his press conference before facing Inter he had warned about the threat the increased number of matches posed to player welfare.
City were unbeaten for the previous two seasons in the Champions League when Rodri was on the pitch, but without the Ballon d'Or winner they suddenly looked vulnerable, unable to control games as before. They have missed his passing vision, his power and his energy, and all attempts to compensate for his absence, such as playing Mateo Kovacic and Bernardo Silva in a double-pivot or having Ilkay Gundogan anchor the midfield on his own, have not worked.
The lack of a proper holding midfielder was achingly obvious in Paris as Luis Enrique's side out-ran City through the middle, allowing Bradley Barcola and Ousmane Dembele to do damage down the wings.
Getty Images SportDefensive injuries
Rodri is not the only player City have missed at crucial moments in their European campaign. Defensive leader Ruben Dias missed the games against Sporting and Feyenoord while he asked to be substituted at half-time in Paris due to injury. It is no coincidence that in those 225 minutes without the towering Portuguese, City have conceded 11 goals.
John Stones and Nathan Ake have also been missing for much of the campaign, forcing Guardiola to shuffle his pack and field Josko Gvardiol at centre-back, Rico Lewis at left-back and Matheus Nunes at right-back. None of the players have coped well with playing out of their usual positions, with Gvardiol and Nunes giving away penalties in Lisbon.
The shortages forced the coach to hand 19-year-old Jahmai Simpson-Pusey his debut against Sporting and the defender – who Guardiola simply referred to as "the young lad" – looked completely out of his depth. Given how porous they have been with their makeshift defence, City will be praying that Dias can recover from his setback to face Brugge.
