As a former Bayern Munich player, Martin Demichelis knows the challenge Manchester City face when Pep Guardiola's team take to the Etihad Stadium pitch.
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 December 10th.
‘Here to win’
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 Aguero, 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.”
Bafflement
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.
The manager is without the injured Silva, Edin Dzeko and Aleksandar Kolarov, plus the suspended Yaya Toure and Fernandinho.
Nasri, who is not alone in disappointing this season, sees the absence of Silva and Toure 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.”
The problem is that time is pressing for City and their Champion League hopes this season. – Guardian Service
