Marseille coach Andre Villas-Boas said on Monday Manchester City are “a machine ready to win the Champions League”, on the eve of the two teams’ group-stage meeting.
City have never reached the Champions League final and are yet to even reach the semifinals in four attempts under Pep Guardiola.
The biggest stage returns to𝑴𝑨𝑹𝑺
Allez l'OM. Let's go, Champ𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙨!#OMMCI #FaimDEurope #UCL pic.twitter.com/zxqQVsLv3Z
— Olympique de Marseille
(@OM_English) October 26, 2020
“(City) are a machine ready to win the Champions League,” said Villas-Boas. “They may not be at their best level, their coach admitted that.
“That’s why I allow myself to say that, but they are still at a higher level than us and remain the favourites tomorrow (Tuesday).”
City, who relinquished their Premier League title last season to Liverpool, have only won twice in five league games this season.
Marseille, the only French club to win the European Cup, are playing their first Champions League campaign since 2013-14, when they were knocked out in the group stage.
They lost their Group C opener to Olympiakos last week but have made a solid start in Ligue 1 and are only three points behind the pace-setting Paris Saint-Germain and Lille.
Dimitri Payet has only scored once this season, and Villas-Boas admitted he needs his star winger to find form.
“Dimitri (Payet) is a key player. We have spoken and we both know he can do better,” said the former Chelsea and Tottenham coach.
“But it does not only depend on him, also on the team, which must help raise his level. He needs to rediscover what he brought to the team last season.”
City came from behind to beat Porto 3-1 last week in Manchester, but Guardiola will likely make at least one change to that team, with Kevin De Bruyne fit again and Sergio Aguero struggling with a muscle problem.
Tomorrow its 𝑪𝒊𝒕𝒚𝒛𝒆𝒏 vs. 𝑶𝒍𝒚𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒆𝒏 in a battle of the Sky Blue & the 𝑩𝒍𝒆𝒖 𝒆𝒕 𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒄
We're looking forward to our #UCL clash with a club we hold deep shared history with, @ManCity / @ManCityUS … but first…
Who did it better: pic.twitter.com/Sghe4uRqAd
— Olympique de Marseille
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Villas-Boas admitted he cannot know what to expect from Guardiola, who has been criticised for tinkering tactically in Europe.
“Pep is able to create surprises, and the problem with City is that they have several dynamics and they can adapt. For us, however, this is not a game for experimenting.”
The post Man City ‘ready to win Champions League’ – Villas-Boas appeared first on Sporting Life.
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