Citeh

Manchester City  3  Sevilla  1

UEFA Champions League – Group Stages

Admission / Programme - £12 / £5

Manchester City weren’t very good once.

Speak to any City fan of a certain age and they will happily regale you with some delightful tales of FA Cup defeats at Halifax Town, Second Division struggles against fierce local rivals Bury and Stockport County, and of course the memorable season of 1998-99 when they entered the third tier of the game and had a local derby with Macclesfield Town to look forward to.

Yes, it wasn’t all glory, in fact it was quite the opposite, and again, ask a City fan who was around in that era and they will wax lyrical about the clubs ability to turn triumph into adversity, snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, generally, be crap!

Of course, it changed, the club moved from Maine Road to the former Commonwealth Games arena on the East side of the City, worked their way back up to the top flight, became competitive, and then with the arrival of the Sheikh and his entourage, became the dominant force in not only English football, but arguably the World.

They can’t seem to win a Champions League though, but more on that later.

My first visit to a City home game came in April 1990, it was the last game of the season against Derby, and it also happened to be the last game where the old Kippax Terrace was to be used, so it was something of a carnival atmosphere around the place, not aided though I might add by the fact Derby won 1-0.

Many years then passed, Good Friday 2007, as I was embarking on the 92, it was a home game with Charlton Athletic. City were under the stewardship of Stuart Pearce at the time and had a fundamental problem, they didn’t score goals, in fact the betting odds before the game had a goalless draw as the favourite outcome, they were right, it was turgid.

By now I was mates with Steve, a lifelong City fan, and a reasonably depressed one at that, you see he lived and breathed the shite period, but it was a kind of accepted shite, the sort of shite that you would probably miss when it went. There was something deeply satisfying about losing to York City, a kind of affirmation that you were indeed shite, gratifying almost.

I can remember speaking to Steve after Sheikh Mansour took over the club, it was quite exciting in one sense, but tinged with the sceptical view that City fans now beheld. Had City been taken over by the only penniless shake in Abu Dhabi, was it a front to take the club down, was the club about to be saddled with squillions of pounds of debt in a Glazer fashion, or was it the real deal?

We know of course it was the real deal, and for people like Steve who probably never thought they would see City win a trophy again in their lifetimes, let alone a number of Premier League titles, it was something very special indeed, but, even when you were 4-0 up against the likes of Real Madrid going into injury time, the City fan in you always feared a 5-4 defeat.

Steve took me to the Etihad (as it became) back in 2016 for a Champions League game against Barcelona, complete with Lionel Messi, a game City won 3-1 and were superb in. I went again last season to see the 4-1 demolition of Club Brugges, while it transpired I had another opportunity, a spare ticket was going for the Sevilla game.

Getting to and from the Etihad isn’t as challenging as you might think, coming from the Sheffield end it can get a bit sticky on Hyde Road pre-match but knowing a back route I was soon parked up next to Steve just off Ashton New Road, a short ten minute walk from the ground.

The Etihad is a marvellous arena, and whatever you might think, what has been done to the locality is fantastic. Named the Etihad Campus, you have another smaller sized stadium used by the women and the academy sides a few minutes away from the main stadium, while various other sporting and educational institutions are located all around the area. It’s as much about community and legacy as it is success for Sheikh Mansour and the hierarchy.

Sitting high up in the East Stand, you’ve got a fantastic view of the action, and on a Champions League night, while the atmosphere might not be what it is for a Premier League game, the pre-match build up is pretty impressive with the light and lazer shows.

So, City and the Champions League, now this is a strange one.

City and UEFA are not great bedfellows, in fact along with PSG, it seems UEFA have got a real issue with clubs that are owned, or are seemingly funded by states. We’ve all seen over the years the lengths UEFA have gone to try and nail City, but City and their vast resources have been able to employ lawyers who were one step ahead of those UEFA could muster up. Many City fans are of the view that while the club might have been a bit creative with the finances and might have got a slightly different interpretation to FFP, they certainly were no worse than the likes of Barca or Real who’ve been up to all kinds of financial shenanigans over the years.

But also, the Champions League falls into two camps if you are a City fan, and it all comes down to age. The younger breed of City fan sees the Premier League as a bit of a given, and the Champions League as the holy grail, whereas people like Steve have the Premier League as the single most important thing to aim for, and the Champions League is a kind of novelty that it would be nice to win, but if they don’t, who really cares?

Pep Guardiola and Sheikh Mansour do care though, and I think until City do finally nail that crown, there will always be a slight question mark as to whether they are the best team in the World. Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool have all won it, it would be a travesty if City cannot join that elite group (let’s not forget Nottingham Forest or Aston Villa either but apparently that wasn’t proper football….).

So, with the Champions League anthem suitably booed and another fine coming City’s way, it was time for the game that effectively meant nothing. City were through, Sevilla were out and we got what was tantamount to a pre-season friendly.

City won 3-1, despite Sevilla taking a first half lead from what was one of only two foray’s into the City half of the pitch. Goals from Riyad Mahrez, Julian Alvarez and debutant Rico Lewis sealed a more than comfortable home win and top spot in the group. Sevilla go into the Europa League, a competition they have got history in, usually by winning it at regular intervals, but that said, this isn’t the Sevilla side of old, I can’t see them lifting any silverware if I’m honest.

So that was it then, a routine win against Sevilla, top spot in the group, all without the best striker in the World on the pitch. The Premier League looks a two horse race that City will probably inevitably win, and the big question mark is will the draw fall kindly and can they finally be crowned Champions of Europe?

It certainly beats losing to Stockport County and failing to be crowned Champions of South Manchester.