Can Manchester City win the Champions League?

This is a post in collaboration with Ray Hobbs.

Manchester City are one of the strongest clubs in England but have failed to make a major impact on the European stage in recent years. The Blues have been improving in the Champions League but haven’t managed to advance to the latter stages of the continent’s elite competition.

This season, Manuel Pellegrini’s men finished at the top of their group and were handed a favourable draw against Dynamo Kyiv. If City can beat the Ukrainian side over two legs, they will be in the quarter-finals and from there, anything is possible. It doesn’t take a bet calculator or a genius to realise that this is draw is much better than facing the likes of Barcelona or Atletico Madrid.

With talk of Pep Guardiola set for a move to the Etihad Stadium at the end of the campaign, Pellegrini will be desperate to make a mark as he attempts to convince City’s owners that he is the right man for the job. At the time of writing, City are third in the Premier League but sit just three points behind leaders Arsenal. Meanwhile, they are in the semi-finals of the Capital One Cup and comfortably advanced to the fourth round of the FA Cup. In other words, they are fighting on all four fronts – which is exactly how it should be.

There’s absolutely no reason why City cannot win the Champions League this season, they’ve certainly got a good enough squad to go toe-to-toe with the likes of Bayern Munich and Real Madrid. If you’re considering placing a bet on City to win the competition, it may be wise to place it sooner rather than later to get the best value. Bookies’ bet calculator, which is usually fractional, is particularly useful for adding up legs on accumulators. For those placing a treble or greater on the last-16 stage, this can come in handy.

Pellegrini won’t be betting on Dynamo Kyiv being an easy draw however and will be very wary of their opponents. It wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see City go all out for an away goal in the first leg in order to make their life a little easier back at the Etihad Stadium in the deciding encounter. With City’s sheer power and depth, it’s hard to see them losing against Kyiv but in football, you never know. However, City’s supporters should be quietly confident of their chances and will already be eyeing up a potential quarter-final clash.

Can Pellegrini’s men win it? Of course they can. It will be difficult but they have both the experience and the nous to go all the way. With a bit of luck on the injury front, there’s absolutely no reason why Manchester City cannot lift the Champions League for the first time this season.