Manchester City’s Champions League Draw

Despite the confident comments in many corners of the media over the last 10 months stating  Manchester City will be banned, City are competing in the UEFA Champions League this season.

Manchester City have reached a maturity point under Guardiola so far in the Champions League. We have been there regularly for so long, we no longer feel like interlopers, although we may still be unwelcome guests for some.

The showbizzy glamour of the competition is no longer catching us unawares and our feathers are no longer ruffled by trips to European giants. Quite simply we are expected to reach at least the Quarter Finals every year because our squad is so good.

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There is still an excitement which precedes the draw for the Champions League groups – like there is for any draw for a good cup competition. But the Champions League provides another opportunity too. For many fans it is about travel, and short breaks, airplane flights and hotels. So the excitement around the draw is supplemented by feverish checking of tripadvisor and skyscanner as decisions are made before even exact match dates are confirmed!

This year Manchester City have been drawn in Group C and will face Shaktar Donetsk, Dinamo Zagreb and Atalanta. The ties will start on Wednesday 18 September and conclude on Wednesday 11 December.

City start the European campaign with a game away at Shaktar Donetsk, a place we have come to be used to as its the third year running we have played Shaktar! The good news here is that City have an excellent record against Shaktar so far and we would expect that continue again.

Both Dinamo Zagreb and Atalanta are new to City fans so this will add some added interest to these ties. In fact the away game at Atalanta on Wednesday 6 November will in fact be held at the San Siro Stadium as building work is happening at the Atalanta ground.

As it stands the Group we have got is as good as we could have expected and offers an ideal opportunity to try and progress again into the knock out phases of the tournament. Could this actually be our turn in the Champions League?

Right now there are some awkward ties to get through and the hard work starts here, but what an opportunity we have.