As a former Bayern Munich player Martín Demichelis knows the challenge Manchester City face when Pep Guardiola’s team take to the Etihad Stadium pitch on Tuesday evening.
The seven years Demichelis played for “FC Hollywood” until 2010 yielded four German titles and an intimate knowledge of how Bayern always focus on business whatever the stakes.
They arrive with 12 points from their four games in Group E and have already qualified for the Champions League knockout phase. Yet the German club’s edge will not be blunted as City seek the victory required to retain a chance of qualification before the final match, the visit to Roma on 10 December.
Demichelis said: “I have a lot of experience there and it could help that they have already qualified but I know the German mentality is always the same. They work as they think and I am sure they will come here to win. It won’t be easy. It may be they won’t field their strongest starting 11 but they have quality in the squad and on the bench.”
Guardiola, who masterminded Bayern’s 3-1 demolition of City at the Etihad last October at the same stage, sounds like a manager plotting to go for the jugular. “I’m not focused about what happens in the future,” he said. “It’s about focus on our tactics and Manchester City. How strong they are, their style and how we can beat them with our tactics, our game, our football.”
City’s dismal campaign has resulted in two points, with four goals scored and six conceded. The English champions lost their opening game, 1-0 at Bayern, before a 1-1 home draw with Roma, a 2-2 draw at CSKA Moscow and a 2-1 defeat by the Russian champions in the last outing.
Demichelis said: “It is difficult to say why we have conceded so many but after every game we analyse it and what happened. Some of the games are down to bad luck and some down to errors.
“In the last match we controlled the game and I don’t think they had more than three chances, so I think we were a bit unfortunate to concede.”
Despite Sheikh Mansour’s £1bn-plus investment on a squad packed with top names, including Sergio Agüero, Vincent Kompany, Joe Hart, Samir Nasri and David Silva, City’s awful form has left Demichelis admitting that remaining in the competition into the new year will be difficult.
He said: “It is not just the manager who is disappointed. We are not happy with our Champions League performances. We have a good squad and should do much better. There are two games left and why shouldn’t we dream of going through to the last 16.
“It will be a very tough game, playing against the best team in the competition. Last season when we won after going two goals down in the first 10 minutes shows what we can do. We must control the game and play with aggression.”
A surprising trope of City’s failure to impress in the Champions League is the bafflement this is causing Manuel Pellegrini whenever asked. While he did lead the club to the first knockout round last season, City are staring at a third failure to do so from their four stabs at the competition.
Pellegrini said: “It is difficult to know just one reason. In two of them we didn’t continue to the last 16. Last year we did it and we lost against Barcelona. We will see what happens and if we don’t qualify we will make an analysis of what happened but we will first of all play the game.”
The manager is without the injured Silva, Edin Dzeko and Aleksandar Kolarov, plus the suspended Yaya Touré and Fernandinho.
Nasri, who is not alone in disappointing this season, sees the absence of Silva and Touré as chance to finally shine in a playmaker’s role. “I am not going to be the only one,” he said. “But, yes, I have to stand up and show my quality. That’s how it is if you want to be a major player. That’s why you see the big players perform in big games.”
The Frenchman hopes any Brazil 2014 hangovers are finally eased and City can at last do themselves justice in the Champions League. “The thing is we were on a different level of preparation this time with the World Cup, people coming back late and we had a lot of key players injured,” he said.
“Speaking for myself, the game against Swansea [won 2-1 on Saturday] was the first time I felt 100% and fully fit. I came back from holiday and still had pain on my groin and I had surgery.
“We have David Silva on the sidelines and Edin Dzeko, so when we are going to have the team fully fit, we will see.”
The problem is that time is pressing for City and their Champion League hopes this season.
