CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Blues avoid the big guns – now must top group
CITY have been handed a golden chance to top their Champions League group.
The Blues’ biggest threat in Group F appears to be Napoli, who knocked them out in their first venture into the competition in 2011.
City have improved greatly in Europe since then, and should be more used to the intimidating atmosphere of the Stadio San Paolo.
But the group also includes Ukrainian champions Shakhtar Donetsk and Dutch champions Feyenoord, and the Blues will back themselves to see off those two teams in order to qualify.
But topping the group has to be the aim – in the six seasons in which they have been involved, the Blues have only topped their group once.
That was under Manuel Pellegrini in 2015-16, and they advanced as far as the semi-finals after drawing Dynamo Kiev and Paris St Germain in the knockout rounds.
But Napoli will be tough opponents. They finished third in Serie A last season and they eased through the play-off round, beating Mario Balotelli’s Nice 2-0 home and away.
Like most top Italian teams, they are very solid defensively and in Marek Hamsik have an outstanding midfielder. With Lorenzo Insigne, Jose Callejon and Dries Mertens also very dangerous, Napoli will take some beating.
Some are tipping them as an outside bet to upset the odds in the Champions League this season, and with the backing of their fanatical support, they will be formidable on their own patch.
City fans who travelled to southern Italy in 2011 will have vivid memories of the incredible noise generated by the Napoli support.
They will also remember their Champions League hopes were sunk by two Edinson Cavani goals, although Balotelli had equalised to give them a chance.
The only current City players who played that night were Vincent Kompany, David Silva, Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero, who was a substitute.
Shakhtar have defied their relocation from a war zone in eastern Ukraine to the city of Kharkiv to win the Ukrainian Premier League – and the game will be an emotional return for Fernandinho, who spent eight years with them before his £30m move to City in 2013.
Feyenoord is a nice short trip for the Blues travelling fans – they won the title, their first since 1999, last season after former Liverpool man Dirk Kuyt scored a hat-trick to win the last game.
The Blues avoided big guns Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Juventus and in Shakhtar drew possibly the weakest side in Pot One.
But for the travelling fans, they are playing one team from a war zone, one from a fanatical Italian football city and the third with a notorious hooligan following!