Villas-Boas: Man City set up to ‘win Champions League’

Marseille manager Andre Villas-Boas believes Man City are ready to win the Champions League this season.

City have struggled to find success in the Champions League so far. They have spent the last eight in Europe’s top competition.

They were knocked out at the group stage in their first two seasons in the tournament. City then reached the round of 16 stages in back-to-back years before reaching the semi-finals in Manuel Pellegrini’s final season as manager.

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Pep Guardiola was brought in as manager in 2016 and one of his main tasks was to win the Champions League.

This has not gone to plan, however. They have failed to even reach the semi-final stage under Guardiola. City have been knocked out in the Quarter-Finals in the last three seasons.

City have been among the favourites to win the competition in recent campaigns. They were knocked out by Monaco in his first season. This is before they were dumped out by Liverpool in 2018 and Tottenham in 2019.

Last season they were on the favourable side of the draw. Yet they were knocked out by Ligue 1 side Lyon.

Man City have been drawn into Group C of this year’s competition alongside Marseille, Porto and Olympiacos. Villas-Boas’ Marseille face City at the Etihad on Tuesday.

The former Chelsea and Tottenham boss told France 24 that Man City are ready and waiting to win the Champions League:

“(City) are a machine ready to win the Champions League. They may not be at their best level, their coach admitted that.

“That’s why I allow myself to say that, but they are still at a higher level than us and remain the favourites tomorrow (Tuesday).

“Pep is able to create surprises, and the problem with City is that they have several dynamics and they can adapt. For us, however, this is not a game for experimenting.”