Manchester City have struggled in recent games following a disastrous defeat to Bodø/Glimt in the Champions League, but the relatively new Champions League format still gives them a lot of hope.
Manchester City may have been humiliated, but it will mean little in the end (Image: )
Manchester City’s defeat in the Arctic Circle should have frozen European football. It would be a seismic shift, marking the end of the Guardiola era in English football.
A team with a market value of less than £50 million beats a team with a market value of well over £1 billion. And this comes after one of City’s worst Premier League performances in recent memory.
It’s not a stretch to see City’s current form as a crisis. They have only won two of their last seven games, one of which was against mid-table League One team Exeter City.
But the cold truth suggests a relative struggle rather than a crisis. City have reached the Carabao Cup final and are second in the Premier League standings after drawing with League Two opponents in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
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And despite losing to Bodø/Glimt, they are still very much in the Champions League. It’s truly mind-boggling that the first five months of this competition have been risk-free, but these two extra matches at the end of this month are a completely unnecessary addition to a packed football schedule.
As for the European competition, January should be rough, as usual. After finishing the group stage in early November, there will be a three-month off period before the sudden death stage. This created a sense of anticipation for the knockout phase.
Now the entire competition is in chaos. These two rounds of games after Christmas will have some advantage for some teams, most notably the few teams below the 24th cut line who could potentially advance to the playoff round after the final qualifier.
Erling Haaland draws blank again as Manchester City suffer another defeat (Image: )
But in reality, that’s not the case at all. It’s like falling asleep in your seat.
Yes, there is a risk that a big team like City might not make the top eight and have to go to a two-legged knockout phase play-off, but is that such a difficult deal? Four of last season’s quarter-finalists failed to make the top eight, but of course Paris Saint-Germain made it through to the finals and won the trophy.
In fact, PSG lost three of their eight qualifying matches for the 2024/25 season. City is ahead of its schedule as they have lost three of their first five games. The luck of the draw is also a factor.
Paris Saint-Germain won last season’s Champions League despite losing three games in the qualifying rounds (Image: )
Liverpool finished first in qualifying last season, but what will be their reward in the round of 16? Talks with PSG.
Aston Villa finished qualifying in 8th place, qualifying for the Round of 16 with Club Brugge. In other words, while a win against Galatasaray next Wednesday might be a welcome move into the top eight, having to play two knockout ties in February is not a disaster for City.
At the same stage last season, PSG defeated Brest 10-0 on aggregate and set themselves up for an eventual victory. Sure, it was shocking for Arctic City…but thanks to this format, it’s not the end of the world.
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