CSKA Moscow have already experienced the ‘Sound of Silence’ in this season’s Champions League as they go into tonight’s crunch Group E encounter with Manchester City. The repugnant Russians were forced by UEFA to play Bayern Munich behind closed doors in the Arena Khimki last month, as punishment for the antics of their yobbish, racist chanting fans. Despite losing narrowly to Bayern, it could be argued that the former Soviet […]

Engineer Manuel Pellegrini will have to retrieve a bloody big spanner from his machine if his Champions League blueprint for Manchester City is to stand any chance of success this season. Rudi Garcia’s Roman incursion force were as good as their French manager’s pre-match prophecy that they were to be ‘protagonists and not spectators’ – right to the point where City’s prospects of qualifying from Group E are now under […]

Be the best team in England they said, qualify for the Champions League they said, explore Europe and broaden your horizons they said…they didn’t say it would be back to Bayern Munich for the third time in four seasons. Nonetheless, it would be wrong to say the thrill of a trip to the magnificent spectacle of the Allianz Arena has worn thin. It’s more a barometer of how far City have […]

Manchester City will adopt the unaccustomed role of underdog when confronted by a cacophony of Catalan hostility in the Nou Camp on Wednesday night. It’s a tag not often attached to a City side brimming with world class talent and lofty ambitions to dominate not just English football, but the European continent as a whole. It may not fit Sheikh Mansour’s grand vision of years to come, but being written […]

Manchester City are set to light the blue touch paper and rocket through to the knockout stages of the Champions League with a feast of football fireworks tonight. Manuel Pellegrini’s men will be on an unstoppable trajectory out of Group D if they can produce an illuminating performance of power, precision and poise and send CSKA Moscow spiralling out of the competition. Having savoured success winning the now sadly defunct […]

Manchester City emerged from CSKA Moscow’s notorious Khimki Arena with three precious Champions League points having enjoyed the rub of the green after a less than glossy performance. The 2-1 win, achieved courtesy of Sergio Aguero’s second brace within 96 hours, puts Manuel Pellegrini’s men in pole position to progress to the last 16 of the competition – provided they don’t misfire in the return fixture on Bonfire Night. City […]

As ‘Johnny Foreigner’ arriving in town, Manchester City never really expected a red carpet welcome to the Russian capital – they had however hoped for something better underfoot than a surface more suited to the ‘Cabbage Patch ‘dolls. Forget any notions of the Russian steppes – those vast tracts of grassy treeless plains – Manuel Pellegrini’s men might be better off in their ‘wellies’ as they prepare to cope with […]

After 45 minutes Manuel Pellegrini had an extensive ‘To Do’ list. After 90 minutes the Manchester City manager had ticked all the boxes on his Champions League ‘Czech list’ in pilsner producing Plzen. An intoxicating brew of heady football flowed freely as the Boddington boys of old barrelled out a first ever victory in an opening Group fixture in the CL – what a refreshing change. With a mature Chilean […]

It was a case of Turkish Delight for Manchester City at 17.27hrs on 29th August, as Galatasaray emerged from the painfully pedantic Champions League draw in swish downtown Geneva. The Turks were handed a route into the so-called Group of Death, that only moments earlier had seemed City’s fatal destiny for the third consecutive season. The storm clouds gathering over City, as they looked set for stern tests in Madrid […]