This time, City look to get it right in Europe Underdogs Lyon eye Juve scalp
With ban looming, Citizens focus on ending title drought starting with R16 clash with Real Madrid
LONDON: Manchester City may be set to go to war with UEFA, but time is of the essence for the English champions to satisfy their quest to win the Champions League.
City head to the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday, knowing failure to beat 13-time winners Real Madrid over two legs could be their final European adventure for two years.
UEFA slapped a stunning twoseason ban on City earlier this month for overstating sponsorship income between 2012 and 2016 to breach Financial Fair Play rules and failing to cooperate once an investigation was re-opened following the leak of internal emails to German magazine Der Spiegel.
City remain belligerent and insist they will beat UEFA off the field. An appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport will decide their fate for the next two years.
In the meantime, Pep Guardiola’s men have to finally get it right on the field to satisfy City’s long-wait to conquer Europe.
Now in their ninth season of Champions League football since Sheikh Mansour’s takeover transformed the club’s fortunes, City are still waiting for a landmark knockout win in the competition. Even before the latest body blow of a European ban, the City support have not been enamoured by their new status as Champions League regulars.
The club have had to turn to social media influencers to try and sell tickets for group matches and the competition’s anthem is routinely jeered.
A run to the semi-finals before being beaten by Madrid in 2015-16 is their best ever showing in the competition. Despite re-writing the history books domestically, Guardiola’s star-studded squad have fallen at the quarter-finals to English opposition in each of the past two seasons.
The contrast with Madrid could not be starker. For generations, Real have risen to the occasion on the Champions League stage, while City have crumbled under the pressure.
A former Barcelona coach and player, Guardiola hailed his old foes the “kings of Europe.”
And in an interview with Spanish newspaper AS last week, City’s Raheem Sterling insisted: “There is no better challenge than Real Madrid.”
However, a meeting with Madrid also offers City an opportunity to change the narrative.
The sort of ferocious atmosphere Guardiola has long pleaded for at the Etihad for Champions League games seems guaranteed when the Spanish giants travel to Manchester on March 17th.
With Liverpool streaking clear at the top of the Premier League,
City’s season and arguably Guardiola’s legacy at the club comes down to what happens in this tie. “If we don’t win it everybody is going to say we are failures like the last five years,” said Kevin De Bruyne.
The only two Champions
League winners in City’s squad are back-up goalkeepers Claudio Bravo and Scott Carson. Motivation could not be greater for players like De Bruyne, David Silva and Sergio Aguero to cap their careers with European success.
Moreover, doing so this season would have the added benefit of sticking it to UEFA by capturing their flagship competition.
“I can’t believe they’re in the competition now. What would happen if City win this season?” formerliverpooldefenderjamie Carragher told Sky Sports.
LYON: Anthony Lopes describes Cristiano Ronaldo as ‘extraordinary’, and the Lyon goalkeeper knows how big a job he faces keeping his Portuguese international colleague quiet when the French side face Juventus in the Champions League this week.
“I have been lucky enough to play alongside him. He is the captain and an extraordinary personality, a great man,” Lopes told AFP when asked about playing with Ronaldo.
Lopes, 29, was born near Lyon and has spent his entire club career there. But thanks to his Portuguese roots he has won seven caps and been to two major tournaments with Ronaldo, including Euro 2016 which Portugal won. “I have gone to major tournaments with him, the Euro and the World Cup, and to do what he does every day is quite incredible,” Lopes added. On Wednesday, Lyon host Ronaldo and the Italian giants in the first leg of their last-16 tie.
Lyon are massive underdogs against a Juve side in a hurry for Champions League success given the massive investment they made in Ronaldo.
Last year it was Lionel Messi who put Lyon to the sword at this stage, scoring twice as Barcelona won 5-1 in the second leg after a goalless draw in France.
“When you play Barca or Juve, the danger comes from everywhere,” Lopes said, adding: “All eyes will be on Ronaldo, especially in the stands.”
Lyon want to become regulars in the Champions League knockout stage, but they only just scraped through their group. Lyon are currently seventh in Ligue 1. Coach Rudi Garcia has struggled to win over supporters who were unimpressed at the decision to appoint him in October after the failed experiment with Brazilian novice Sylvinho.
Lyon president Jean-michel Aulas prefers to point out that they remain in every competition. Supporters are impatient for a first trophy since 2012, too long for a club who are France’s second-richest behind PSG.