City facing ‘five finals’ to secure their spot in Euro knockout stages
Pep Guardiola has said that Manchester City have “five finals” ahead of them in the group stages of the Uefa Champions League, starting with tonight’s clash with Hoffenheim.
The Premier League champions are under early pressure after they lost their opening match in Group F to Lyon 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium in September.
Guardiola acknowledged yesterday that his side do not have much margin for error in their remaining five group matches if they want to ensure they qualify for the knockout stages of the tournament.
He said: “We have five finals to qualify. We don’t have time to lose a lot of games. Tomorrow is the first one.
“It is a top-level competition and every team is so good.”
Vincent Kompany, City’s captain, echoed his manager’s view and said that while he and the club still have big ambitions to win the competition, they were not looking beyond the trip to Germany to kick start their challenge to make it to the last 16.
“I would love to win a European trophy with City but it is a very tough competition,” said the Belgian. “We lost to Lyon. We have to worry about Hoffenheim first.
“It is the last step the club hasn’t achieved yet and the club is always trying to progress. We are going to try our best.”
City have had a boost with the news that Kompany’s Belgian compatriot Kevin De Bruyne has returned to training with his teammates.
The midfielder has been out since August with a knee ligament injury and had been expected to be out for as long as three monents.
Guardiola said: “Today was his first training session back with the team so we will see when he’s ready to play.”
Striker Sergio Aguero is also in contention to feature against Hoffenheim despite suffering from a foot injury that led to him being substituted, having scored, in the 2-0 win against Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday in the league.
“He is here because the doctor says he is able to play,” said Guardiola. Tomorrow we will decide if he or Gabriel [Jesus] plays.”
Meanwhile in the other game in Group F tonight, Lyon coach Bruno Genesio hopes his side can get the better of Shakhtar Donetsk despite being forced to play the game behind closed doors.
Supporters will be absent from the 59,000-capacity Groupama Stadium after Lyon were told by Uefa they must play one European game behind closed doors as a punishment for trouble during their Europa League tie against CSKA Moscow back in March.
They were also handed a suspended ban for a second home game, and it is a major setback the French club believe.
“With or without fans, we will need to play as well as we did at Manchester City to make the most of our victory there,” Genesio said.
With a reference to some of the home games during Lyon’s run to the Europa League semi-finals in 201617, Genesio added: “We know that it is very important to have our fans behind us in these games.
“We have had quite extraordinary European atmospheres here against Besiktas and Roma which strengthened us greatly. We will just have to do without on Tuesday.
“It is regrettable for everybody. A football match should be played in front a crowd and that is why we all love the big games.
“We have to accept the punishment and find the motivation even if the atmosphere will be a bit strange.
“We had a lot of praise after the win in Manchester but I can confirm that Shakhtar are a very good side as well.”
I would love to win a European trophy with City but it is a very tough competition. It is the last step for this club VINCENT KOMPANY