Ahead of tonight’s clash with Leipzig, ’keeper Ederson insists English giants are going all out for UCL crown
Manchester City’s star striker Erling Haaland (right) has a laugh with teammate Bernardo Silva during a training session at the City Football Academy in Manchester yesterday. Pic/Getty Images
Manchester City’s quest to finally conquer Europe resumes on Wednesday when Pep Guardiola’s men travel to RB Leipzig, but all is not well for the English champions on or off the field.
City appeared to have laid down a marker in the Premier League title race by beating leaders Arsenal 3-1 away last week, only to then throw away two points by conceding late to draw 1-1 at Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
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Ederson
They are also playing under a cloud after being charged with more than 100 breaches of financial rules by the Premier League, dating back to the 2009/10 season.
Despite Haaland’s haul, City had scored more goals as a team at this stage last season. Defensively they also look more exposed—an issue not helped by Guardiola’s willingness to let Joao Cancelo join Bayern Munich on loan, leaving him without a natural left-back.
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Nathan Ake, Aymeric Laporte, Rico Lewis and even creative midfielder Bernardo Silva have been shunted out to do a job on the left side of defence in the past two weeks alone. Guardiola said he was heartened by City’s display at Forest despite a lack of killer instinct that cost them two points. However, he has not been slow to call out his players since the World Cup break for a lack of hunger and desire to remain on top in England, which is an uncharacteristic approach for the former Barca and Bayern Munich coach. Finding such motivation for the Champions League should not be difficult. Third-choice goalkeeper Scott Carson is the only member of Guardiola’s squad to have won the competition previously, when he was at Liverpool.
‘Group of great quality’
“We’re coming after it,” goalkeeper Ederson said of City’s quest to win the Champions League. “I think we’re a group of great quality and that shows how much the club has developed over the last five or six years, with Premier League titles, Carabao [League] Cups, FA Cups, Community Shields. So this title is what the club needs. It’s what we athletes need and it’s what Guardiola needs here at the club, too. This year, we’re going to try. We’re going after it.”
Extra incentive
There could also be the extra incentive of not knowing for sure when City might get another chance to play in the Champions League due to the score of charges on financial breaches earlier this month.
Should City be found guilty, a heavy points penalty or even relegation could be on the cards for a club that has played in Europe’s elite competition for 12 straight seasons.
Defender Kyle Walker described City’s sloppiness in relinquishing top spot in the Premier League at the weekend as “unacceptable”.
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