Manchester City suffered an embarrassing 3-1 defeat against Bayern Munich just a few weeks after they had thrashed archrivals Manchester United at the Etihad stadium. This defeat came in the Champions league group stage matches between the two clubs. Manager Manuel Pellegrini was brought to the club in order to achieve results in the Champions league, which has become a disappointing competition for the Premier league club. They may have won the FA Cup and the Premier league trophy in the last three years, but they have been unable to progress past the group stages in the Champions league.

Due to the vast riches on offer, City have made some excellent signings over the summer to add to the strength of the squad even more. As a result, the game between them and Bayern Munich was expected to be an even contest. However, Pep Guardiola’s totally dominated the match as they won the encounter 3-1. It was only because of Alvaro Negredo’s late consolation goal that City could do with a better looking score. They were 3-0 down in the match after 60 minutes. Frank Ribery, Thomas Müller, and Arjen Robben were on the scoresheet for the Germans.

Pellegrini said after the match that his team can only learn from this defeat. “We played very bad. Bayern Munich played a very good game as always. We learned an important lesson in their goals. We didn’t have enough time with the ball at our feet. I think that we were playing in a different way. They had possession of the ball and I don’t think we can make the change to fight that. I always think a lot of things before and after the match. It was a possibility, but I thought this was the best way to play,” said Pellegrini.

Manchester City had to wait several weeks before confirming Manuel Pellegrini as their new manager. Immediately after taking over, the former Malaga manager said that winning the Champions League is his main priority. Despite spending millions of pounds on players, former manager Roberto Mancini was unable to lead the club to success in European competitions. This is believed to be one of the main reasons behind his sacking a few months ago. City failed to retain the Premier league title, while also being trophyless for the last season.

Pellegrini has also not been hugely successful in terms of trophies, but he has overachieved with clubs like Malaga and Villarreal. He has managed to take these clubs into the latter stages of the Champions League, which was unthinkable given their low budget. Pellegrini has said that City clearly have the best squad the Premier league and it’s about time they showed the same on the pitch as well. City suffer from the lack of consistency over the course of last season, as they watched their rivals Manchester United win the 20th Premier league title.

Pellegrini will not have to face the red face of Alex Ferguson next season, as the United manager stepped down to allow Moyes into the position.

“We have the best squad in the Premier League, we have wonderful players and we can reach important titles in the next three or four seasons here. We have everything we need to be successful next year. Last season, they [City] were not successful in winning a title, but I’m sure next year we are going to win maybe the Premier League, the Champions League. We’re going to try to win it all. With Málaga, I reached the quarter finals of the Champions League and with Villarreal also the quarter finals and semi-finals of the Champions League,” said Pellegrini.

The Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes has increased the tension between them and arch rivals Manchester City by saying that he thinks that the game with Liverpool is far more important than the matches against their local rivals. The history between Manchester United and Liverpool is extremely well-known and there is a strong rivalry between the two clubs. Even the Manchester United and Manchester City have had the same rivalry, it has not been the most important match over the course of the season until only recently following the arrival of new owners at City.

United will be facing their old foes Liverpool during the weekend. Despite Liverpool struggling near the mid-table, Scholes thinks that the match against Liverpool is always huge. Scholes has also taken a dig at City by saying that it will take them many years in order to achieve the history that Liverpool have in the game. Liverpool are the second most successful club when it comes to the most number of league titles – 18. However, they are the most successful club in England when it comes to the number of European trophies won – 5. City, on the other hand, have only recently won their first league title for 44 years, and are looking unlikely to retain it this season.

“It’ll probably take years for City to create what Liverpool have done. Liverpool historically are our biggest rivals, they’re always the biggest games and the best atmospheres. Liverpool probably haven’t done as well as they’d have liked over the last few years — and they’d probably admit that. But it’s definitely still right up there, it will always be right up there,” said Scholes. The 38-year-old midfielder is expected to be a key ingredient of the United team during the weekend. Scholes has made 14 appearances for the club this season.

The Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has admitted that his team are not exactly firing on all cylinders in the recent matches. Even though City have won the Premier league title last season, they have been unable to build on that success as they have struggled this season. However, a number of crucial goals from players like Sergio Aguero, Carlos Tevez, and Edin Dzeko has played a crucial role in keeping City near the top of the table. After the recent match with Everton, City allowed United to open a four-point advantage. This was because of the 1-1 draw for City, while United managed a 4-3 win over Reading.

After the Everton match, Mancini admitted that are not firing on all cylinders and this is the reason for them not performing well in all competitions this season. City were recently dumped out of the Champions League after a disappointing group stage performance, while they know look second favourites to win the title this season. It looks very much like United will be top of the table on Christmas and New Year. Even though City managed to stretch their unbeaten home record to 37 matches, the manager was extremely disappointed after the 1-1 draw with Everton.

City were rescued courtesy of penalty from Carlos Tevez, which was questionable. Everton have taken the lead through the Belgian Marouane Fellaini. “We spent most of the second half in Everton’s half but we couldn’t find a way through. Our strikers aren’t firing on all cylinders at the moment and not scoring enough goals but they worked hard today and they will have periods like that during the season. We are not going to go through the season winning every game and sometimes you have to accept it is not going your way and take something out of the game,” said Mancini.