Man City avoid Champions League combustion as Real or Bayern await

Manchester City’s Champions League campaign might have gone in the same direction as the merchandise stand outside Etihad Stadium, which caught fire before kick-off, but a firefighting operation on the pitch prevented them fromadvancing to the play-offs.

Even City manager Pep Guardiola spotted the bad omens, saying, “I thought the journalists have their headlines already,” when he saw the fire before the game.

Thankfully, no one was hurt in the pre-game drama, and City also came out unscathed from a tension and nerves, displaying more of the season’s fragility.

Real Madrid or Bayern Munich are the next two options that might make the most ardent City fan shudder.

After winning the Champions League on Wednesday 3-1 against Club Brugge, City should be embarrassed by its 22nd place finish in the new competition.

And yet, for a short while, it look like it was going to be a lot worse as Guardiola’s side faced the humiliation of not even making the play-offs.

You could have heard a pin drop when Raphael Onyedika’s low drive right in the first half-time left City needing two goals to get the win they needed, aside from one noisy corner, which was occupied by Brugge fans.

At the start of the season, it would have seemed like an unlikely consolation prize to have won. When even that began to fade from view, this season’s sense of crisis was heightening.

City were vulnerable at the back, with weakness out wide once more, and blunt in attack. Following a game against Borussia Dortmund in September 2022, Guardiola managed to score a second goal only once.

The stadium’s home fans were quiet inside. City supporters were left with nothing to ease their growing concerns.

In the wider context, this was City’s season on the line – European ambitions threatened while languishing 12 points adrift of Premier League leaders Liverpool, their hold on that crown loosened.

It is to City’s credit that they responded, helped by Guardiola’s effective change of Savinho for Ilkay Gundogan at half-time, meaning the manager avoided the fate of failing to reach the knockout stage for the first time in his silver-lined career.

Anything less would have been a severe blow to a club that values their position at the top of Europe’s elite, ending a run of 11 consecutive seasons in which they have advanced to the knockout stage.

Under Guardiola, City would have survived what would have been their biggest embarrassment, but despite their current form, a play-off against Real or Bayern to advance to the last 16 is impossible to predict.

Brugge’s threat was finally put to an end when the unfortunate Joel Ordonez turned Josko Gvardiol’s cross into his own net to give City the lead. Their supporters were also cheering as they advanced to the play-offs in 24th place as a result.

The home side ultimately succeeded, but this campaign has so far provided nothing to raise questions for Carlo Ancelotti, the former city legend and Vincent Kompany, the current coach of Bayern.

“We deserve it”, said Guardiola of City’s play-off fate. It’s what it is, I’m not sure if they’re happy to play against us. No complaints. We’re going to face them – one is the king of the competition, the other is the second or third”.

The victories City suffered against Juventus, Sporting, and Paris St-Germain, as well as City’s 3-0 draw against Feyenoord, will provide all the encouragement their next foes will require.

In the last 16, City will face Diego Simeone’s nuggety Atletico Madrid or Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen, despite these formidable obstacles being overcome.

City dug deep when it mattered and managed to escape the hole they were in even when they were defeated by Club Brugge because they were too frequently vulnerable on the counter-attack and had too many midfield spaces to exploit.

If City are to avoid falling out at that point, they will need to make a significant improvement in the short time between this victory and the play-offs.

Given their pedigree, it was unthinkable at the start of the season, but with the help of their fearsome overreaction, it has become very doable in recent weeks.

While history is full of teams who transformed early struggles into Champions League triumphs, Guardiola, who is relieved as well as pleased, is optimistic that City will soon be able to use Omar Marmoush and others as replacements.

Guardiola is hopeful that John Stones and Oscar Bobb will be back together, while Kevin de Bruyne and Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake are hoping for more minutes and fitness.

Guardiola can also draw on the victories over Real and Bayern in the Champions League final against Inter Milan in Istanbul in 2023.

“It might seem impossible today, but tomorrow the mindset, the vibes will change”, Guardiola said. “We will try against Real or Bayern. We will create problems. These players have something special. We’ll make an effort to do it.

It was almost the talk of an underdog, rarely Manchester City’s station in recent years.

In this situation, they currently hold the lead, but when a team with proven talent has a chance to win, they can beat the odds.