Manchester City have enjoyed considerable success on the domestic front in England since the arrival of Sheikh Mansour as the club’s owner in 2008, but the Premier League heavyweights are still waiting on a first Champions League crown.
Big money has been invested in the pursuit of an elusive title, with the likes of Roberto Mancini, Manuel Pellegrini and Pep Guardiola being charged with the task of getting the Blues over that line.
The expectation is that ultimate glory will be savoured at some stage, but have City claimed a European trophy in the past and what is their overall record in continental competition? GOAL takes a look…
Have Man City ever won a cup in Europe?
While Manchester City have never got their hands on European Cup or Champions League honours, they are not waiting to break a continental duck.
It has, however, been over 50 years since they last claimed a piece of major silverware outside of domestic competition.
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They may have won five Premier League titles in the last decade, with another being chased down in the present, but success away from home has proved harder to come by.
Guardiola is hoping to buck that trend as he works on a contract through to 2024, but it is the legendary Joe Mercer that remains the last City boss to deliver a European trophy.
He achieved that feat in 1969-70 with a squad that included the iconic figures of Blues heroes Joe Corrigan, Willie Donachie, Colin Bell, Stan Bowles, Francis Lee and Mike Summerbee.
Fresh from winning the FA Cup in 1969, City breezed their way through a Cup Winners’ Cup campaign the following season to reach a final showdown in Vienna.
They overcame Athletic Club 6-3 on aggregate in the first round, Lierse of Belgium 8-0 in the next, edged out Academica 1-0 in the quarter-finals and swept past Schalke 5-2 in the semis.
Mercer’s men faced Polish side Gornik Zabrze in the final and prevailed 2-1 courtesy of an early effort from Neil Young and a 43rd-minute penalty from Lee – with only 7,968 supporters in attendance at the Prater Stadium.
What is Man City’s record in European competition?
Competition | Seasons | Games | Wins | Draws | Losses | Goals For | Goals Against |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Champions League | 12 | 101 | 56 | 17 | 28 | 204 | 118 |
UEFA Cup/Europa League | 8 | 52 | 28 | 13 | 11 | 84 | 51 |
Cup Winners' Cup | 2 | 18 | 11 | 2 | 5 | 32 | 13 |
Table correct at time of writing on 08/03/2022
City have come a long way since hoisting the Cup Winners’ Cup aloft, with a meteoric rise enjoyed after sinking as far as the third tier in 1998-99.
A return to UEFA Cup competition, for the first time since reaching the quarter-finals of that competition in 1979, was made in 2003-04, while Champions League teeth were cut in 2011-12 – a season that saw the club claim a first Premier League title.
Slow progress was made initially among the continental elite, but the semi-finals were reached in 2015-16 before coming unstuck against Real Madrid.
Guardiola oversaw runs to the quarter-finals in each of his opening three seasons at the Etihad Stadium – suffering setbacks against Liverpool, Tottenham and Lyon – before reaching the final in 2021.
City fluffed their lines again there, with another domestic rival putting them to the sword as Kai Havertz netted the only goal for Chelsea in a cagey contest at Estadio do Dragao in Porto.
The Blues are back in the hunt this season, though, and remain confident that they can repeat their heroics from over half-a-century ago.