Tag Archives: Champions league

The 2010s: Champions League Qualification

Manchester City qualified for the Champions League for the first time when they defeated Tottenham 1-0 via an own goal from Peter Crouch on this day (10 May) in 2011. Crouch had deflected a James Milner cross past his own ‘keeper. This had been a rather tense game against a Spurs team desperate to get into a European place. They ended the day sixth, behind fifth place Liverpool. City were fourth, two points behind third placed Arsenal and seven ahead of fifth placed Liverpool with only two games remaining.The target remained third place, as this avoided a Champions League play off, and success in the FA Cup final. Finishing in the top four for the first time since the 1970s was an achievement in its own right, but winning the FA Cup would end 35 years without success at the highest levels of the game. The final was against Stoke at Wembley on 14 May.

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The 2020s: Victory over Borussia Dortmund

After a surprising defeat in the League at home to Leeds (who were down to ten men throughout the second half) Manchester City’s return leg with Borussia Dortmund on this day (14 April) in 2021, ended with the same result as the first – 2-1. Dortmund had scored first on the night via Jude Bellingham, but the tie ended 4-2 on aggregate. This was a truly impressive victory.

City’s goals coming from Riyad Mahrez (penalty) and Foden. After Foden scored a screamer, he raced towards the manager and the two embraced knowing that City were through to the semi-finals. Afterwards Pep Guardiola told journalists what he experienced at that moment: ‘[Foden] found me. He ran [past] everyone and found me. That’s for all the club, all the people that work so hard to achieve what we have achieved so far. I said, “Well done, good shot, we go”.’

Pep highlighted the task now facing City: ‘We need three wins to win the Premier League. We are in the semi-finals of the Champions League. We are in semi-finals of the FA Cup and the final of the Carabao Cup. It is incredible what we have done. I am incredibly happy for this club, for this chairman and for the fans. Everyone.’

This was shaping up to be a great season.

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The 2020s: Victory over Borussia Dortmund

On this day (6 April) in 2021 Manchester City had a tough Champions League first leg at Borussia Dortmund. It ended 2-1 to City with Kevin De Bruyne opening the scoring on 19 minutes. Then in the final minute of normal time the same player sent a great cross in which was touched back by Gundogan for Phil Foden to send past goalkeeper Hirtz.

It had been a tense finish as future Blue Erling Haaland set Marco Reus for the German equaliser only six minutes from time. City’s determination had won through in a tough game.

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The 2020s: Victory over Borussia Mönchengladbach

On this day (16 March) in 2021 City faced Monchengladbach in the second leg of this Champions League round of 16 tie. They had won the first leg 2-0 and went on to match that scoreline in this second leg. Due to Covid restrictions both legs of this tie were played at the Puskas Arena in Budapest and so this game enters the record books as one of the few home games not played in Manchester by the Blues.

City started the game without a recognised centre forward as both Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Aguero were on the bench, but Pep Guardiola’s side were in control from the start. The German team were unable to cope with City’s quality, passing, creativity and movement.

The opening goal came when Kevin De Bruyne scored a wonderful 20 yard left footed strike after only twelve minutes. This was the 100th goal scored by City in all competitions this season. Six minutes later Ilkay Gundogan slotted the ball past the Monchengladbach ‘keeper following a great run and pass from Phil Foden.

Pep Guardiola enjoyed the victory: ‘It was a good performance; we controlled the game from the beginning. Players like Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva have a lot of quality, they help us a lot, but everyone was so committed and we’re delighted to be in the next stage. We now have everybody fit. That’s why we can rotate six or seven players. If you want to compete for competitions, you have to be fresh. The seasons are so long, we haven’t had one long week [off] since October.’

Post match the statisticians enjoyed highlighting a variety of City achievements. These included a couple of odd facts such as: Half of Monchengladbach’s defeats (5 out of 10) in the Champions League have been by City. City were also one of one three teams (AC Milan & Arsenal) to have kept seven consecutive clean sheets in the competition’s history.

Match Stats

16 March 2021

Manchester City 2 (De Bruyne & Gundogan) Borussia Monchengladbach 0

Attendance 0 (Covid restrictions)

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Manchester City 3 Leipzig 2

Today (28 November) in 2023 City came back from being 2-0 down to win 3-2 against RB Leipzig in the UEFA Champions League. You can see highlights here: https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/manchester-city-rb-leipzig-highlights-63836808 The victory meant that City won the group.

City’s scorers were Haaland, Foden and Alvarez.

Manchester City Through to Last 16

On this day (25 November) in 2020 City defeated Olympiakos in the UEFA Champions League to progress to the last 16. Subscribers can read about that game below:

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Manchester City 3 Young Boys 0

On this day (7 November) in 2023 Manchester City defeated Young Boys 3-0 in the UEFA Champions League. This was recorded as City’s 100th win in major European competitions (don’t get me started on whether a win on penalties is counted as a win in sequence records!) and extended the club’s unbeaten run in Europe to 18 matches (this was a new record for English teams).

You can see film of the game here:

https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/city-3-0-young-boys-highlights-63834993

The City scorers were Haaland (2) and Foden.

Villareal 0 Manchester City 3

On this day (2 November) in 2011 Manchester City defeated Villareal with goals from Yaya Toure (2) and Mario Balotelli (penalty; photograph) You can watch highlights below:

https://www.mancity.com/citytv/match-highlights/2011/november/villarreal-v-city-60-sec-highlights

Champions League Draw 2025-26

Today’s Champions League draw has produced the following fixtures for Manchester City: Borussia Dortmund (H), Real Madrid (A), Bayer Leverkusen (H), Villarreal (A), Napoli (H), Bodo/Glimt (A), Galatasaray (H), Monaco (A).

The Noel Gallagher Interview

With Oasis back doing what they do best this week, it feels an appropriate time to re-release this… Back on Thursday May 20 2021 I interviewed Noel Gallagher about his support of Manchester City, Pep, Europe and more. It was great for two Mancs of a similar age to get together to chat about City. I really enjoyed it.

Here’s part one:

Part two:


Part three:

Part four:
https://gjfootballarchive.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/noel-gallagher-part-4-1.mp3

Part five:


Thanks to Noel and the staff at his studios & office for making this happen.

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