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.