Manchester City: Citizens Face Steaua Bucharest in Champions League Playoff Round
By Larry Henry
Manchester City F.C. learned their opponent for the UEFA Champions League playoff round after this morning’s draw in Nyon, Switzerland. Pep Guardiola’s side will face Romanian-side Steaua Bucharest in a two-legged playoff, with the winner entering the competition’s group stage.
After finishing fourth in the Barclays Premier League last season, Manchester City knew that they would have to play in the UEFA Champions League playoff round before the group-stage began.
Friday morning, the draw took place in UEFA Headquarters in Nyon with 20 teams looking to make it into the final 10 spots for the group-stage of the competition. Manchester City were drawn against Romanian runners-up Steaua Bucharest. The Romanian side, defeated Sparta Prague in the third round of qualifying by an aggregate of 3-1.
More from Champions League
- My Manchester City UCL Group Stage predictions
- Manchester City’s Submitted UCL Squad Confirmed
- Man City’s 23/24 UCL group decided
- UCL Draw : Who are Man City’s possible opponents?
- Manchester City’s busy transfer week rounded-up
Overall, it could have been worse for the Citizens who could have been drawn against a side like Italy’s AS Roma or France’s Monaco. However, Bucharest aren’t a slouch by any means, especially in a competition like this where underdogs cause problems every year.
According to BBC Sport, City sporting director Txiki Begiristain believes that his side’s opponents are very talented. “It’s going to be a difficult tie because Steaua are on the up again in Europe and have a lot of talent.”
Bucharest won the European Cup in 1986 and were runners-up three years later. Manchester City will travel to Romania for the first leg on August 16th, before hosting Bucharest at the Etihad Stadium on August 24th.
I feel that City need to come out firing early against Bucharest if they want to advance easily to the group stage. Pep Guardiola has won the Champions League twice before, and is the right man for the job to take City farther than ever before.
Next: Preview: Arsenal friendly - What to watch for
However, if City don’t take Bucharest seriously then they could be missing out on the group stage of the Champions League for the first time since 2010.