Manchester City have been the Premier League’s dominant force since they won their first title in 2012.
The Citizens have gone on to win a further five titles as well as one FA Cup and six League Cups, but the Champions League has escaped their grasp.
The Champions League is club football’s greatest prize and to win it is a great honour.
However, with the defending Premier League champions embroiled in a three-way title race, their attention shifts to progressing in UEFA’s premier competition.
Pep Guardiola’s men face RB Leipzig tonight in their last 16 second leg and they will believe this is their year.
But what is Man City’s best Champions League finish to date?
What is Manchester City’s best Champions League finish?
City first competed in the Champions League during the 2011/12 season and have been in the main part of the competition ever since.
In their first two campaigns, they didn’t make it out of the group stage.
Then in the 13/14 and 14/15 campaigns, Man City came up against Barcelona in the last 16 and progressed no further.
The 15/16 season saw the Citizens progress as far as ever when they made it to the semi-finals against Real Madrid.
However, they failed to score over either leg and crashed out after a 1-0 defeat at the Bernabeu.
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Then Guardiola came in and things have been better.
During the Spaniard’s first season, City encountered a brilliant Monaco side that contained Kylian Mbappe and Bernardo Silva.
And the Citizens crashed out on away goals after a 6-6 aggregate draw over both legs.
Speaking after that match, Guardiola suggested his team didn’t have the mentality to win the Champions League.
“We see in the Champions League that level [that those teams are at] and the quality they have.
“But it is not just the quality, it is the mentality and the presence to play at that level.
“Of course, we have to make changes for next season. It is how they play in big situations. We lived those situations in the Monaco game, so we do not forget how good they are.
“We were able to score six goals in two games, but we are out. That means it is how you handle the whole situation over 180 minutes. For that, you need experience. Hopefully, that experience will help us for next season.”
The following three seasons saw dramatic defeats to Liverpool, Tottenham and Lyon all in the last eight.
However, during the 2020/21 campaign City made it all the way to the final.
They faced Chelsea and were considered huge favourites, but the Blues, led by Thomas Tuchel, produced an excellent defensive display and Kai Havertz nicked the winner in a 1-0 victory for Chelsea.
And that’s as close as City have ever been to lifting the Champions League.
Last season they looked set to make it to the final again, only to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory against Real Madrid, and they will hope this is the year everything changes.
Manchester City’s Champions League record
2011/12 – group stages
2012/13 – group stages
2013/14 – last 16 – 4-1 aggregate defeat against Barcelona
2014/15 – last 16 – 3-1 aggregate defeat against Barcelona
2015/16 – semi-finals – 1-0 aggregate defeat against Real Madrid
2016/17 – last 16 – away goals defeat after 6-6 aggregate draw against Monaco
2017/18 – quarter-finals – 5-1 aggregate defeat against Liverpool
2018/19 – quarter-finals – away goals defeat after 4-4 aggregate draw against Tottenham
2019/20 – quarter-finals – 3-1 aggregate defeat to Lyon
2020/21 – final – 1-0 defeat to Chelsea
2021/22 – semi-finals – 6-5 aggregate defeat to Real Madrid
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Guardiola has since admitted that his tenure as Man City boss will be judged on whether he wins the Champions League.
He said: “It’s public opinion. It doesn’t mean I agree with that, but, absolutely, I’ll be judged on that.
“Since I arrived here, ahead of the first game in the Champions League, the first time sitting before the media, people said I was here to win the Champions League. I said: ‘What?’
“If I was manager of Real Madrid – that is not going to happen – I could understand it, but here, I don’t know. But I accept it. As much as I go through it’s not going to change that.”
