City of course kick-off this season’s European adventure on Wednesday night with the visit of Lyon to the Etihad Stadium (8pm BST) but much of the pre-match talk extends further than our midweek clash, analysing our chances of lifting the trophy.
It isn’t often you witness a former United star quoting City lyrics but Rio Ferdinand has inadvertently done so in his examination of the Blues, dubbing City ‘the best team in the land.’
With the former defender’s opinions quoted in the Daily Mail, he stated: “Anything less than a semi-final is poor for them. Even if they go out at the semi-final, people will be expecting more.
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“That is what Pep Guardiola creates at a football club. At Bayern Munich he was the same.
“He seems to be building that type of expectation at this club and rightly so. They have got the best team in the land. The best team to watch, the best team on paper, the best team in the table. They are going to go close this year.
“Liverpool showed the way to beat them in the Champions League but I don’t see many teams being able to do that. I still think City will go further than the other English club this year.”
England legend Gary Lineker echoed the sentiments of his former Three Lions teammate.
He told BT Sport: “I think the English sides will do well, they’ve got a lot better after a bad spell.
“I think with their style of play Liverpool will go far again and obviously Man City will have to be one of the favourites amongst the usual suspects.
“City are as well-equipped as any team and will be a major threat. Of course, Pep will want it, it’s been a while since he last lifted the Champions League (2011).
“They’ll desperately want it. He’s driven, he’s ambitious, he’s brilliant. Everything is in place but it’s a tough ask.”
Elsewhere, Sky Sports’ Charlie Nicholas has shared his thoughts on Wednesday’s clash, predicting a comprehensive win for the Blues.
He previewed: “Lyon will be getting caught in an awkward situation because they are leaking goals at the moment, while young Moussa Dembele went there from Celtic.
“Even at the weekend, it was a stroll in the park at 3-0 for City.
“It seems like Pep has gone: ‘This isn’t good enough’ but what he has done is got Leroy Sane back into the team and scoring goals, Raheem Sterling is scoring and is all of a sudden looking at Sergio Aguero asking: ‘What happened to this superstar starting the season? Gabriel Jesus, where are you these days?’
“Manchester City had won seven of their last eight home matches in Europe prior to successive defeats at the hands of Basel and Liverpool,” he scribed.
“Guardiola will see Wednesday night as a chance to get his side back up and running in that regard, but Lyon are no pushovers and return to England with nothing to lose.”
How you do feel the game will pan out? Let us know on Twitter @ManCity, using #cityvol.
