Nobody saw this coming. Nobody thought that any big club would be at risk of an early elimination from this season’s revamped Champions League model – least of all Manchester City. Pep Guardiola’s men lifted the trophy as recently as 2023 and went into the tournament as one of the favourites on the back of a fourth-consecutive Premier League title triumph.
And yet despite the fact that the group stage has given way to a league phase in order to protect Europe’s richest clubs, state-sponsored City need to win their final fixture to avoid a humiliating fall at the first hurdle.
City should still progress to the play-off round, of course. They may not be able to field any of their new January signings, but they’re at home, against Club Brugge, and are coming off a morale-boosting win over Chelsea.
On paper, then, City should cruise through. On the pitch, though, we’ve seen enough evidence to suggest that what would have been previously considered unthinkable is actually possible at the Etihad on Wednesday: the mighty Manchester City could actually suffer the most shocking exit in Champions League history…