David Silva and Manchester City Must Not Fear Any Champions League Opposition
After Manchester City secured qualification from the Champions League group stage on Wednesday night, midfielder David Silva confirmed he would like to avoid Spanish opposition in the next round—but for the side to prove themselves in Europe, they must welcome such challenges.
Silva claimed, per The Guardian, that "I prefer anyone else. I don’t want any one of them. The later you play a Spanish team, the better, no?"
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With La Liga's Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Real Madrid all advancing as group winners in this season's competition, each has a chance of drawing City, a group runner-up, in the first knockout round. The draw will be conducted Monday starting at 11 a.m. BST.
Silva's fears are clearly founded in the sheer quality of the Spanish opposition—a factor he knows too well, having played in La Liga with Valencia prior to his move to City in 2010—but the side should approach such opposition with confidence.
To win the competition, City will likely need to defeat one of these Spanish sides along the way, and if not, the likes of Borussia Dortmund or Juventus could await—so why delay the confrontation?
The sooner you play a Spanish team, the better, no?
La Liga's European Hopefuls
Of the three Spanish sides, the midfielder said: "They’re all that good that, if you get one, you may as well get one of the others."
Madrid won all six of their games, finishing with 18 points that included two victories over a disappointing Liverpool side. Barcelona won five and lost just one—a closely fought battle away to Paris Saint-Germain—to secure qualification. Atletico impressively dispatched Juventus as they topped Group A.
Of course, the Madrid sides contested last season's final, while in the past five seasons Barcelona have made it to the quarter-finals once, the semi-finals three times and won the 2010/11 trophy.
Furthermore, the trio are all vying ferociously for the La Liga title this season. Real is top with 39 points, while Barca and Atleti are second and third, respectively, with 34 and 32 points while having played one game less.
Madrid, leading the charge as Spanish football heads into another weekend of high-profile encounters, are somewhat of the finished article under Carlo Ancelotti.
The obvious merits of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and James Rodriguez underline this.
Barcelona have their own star-studded line-up backing their claims, with Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez finally starting to click as a trio. Each forward scored in the side's final Champions League Group H victory over PSG.
Atletico are more of a collaborative effort under Diego Simeone, who emphasises a near-unstoppable work ethic. However, players such as Koke, whom Bleacher Report's Guillem Balague recently described as "the best midfield player in Spain," add a match-winning flourish.
Each side possesses players capable of turning any game on its head, and this is the calibre of player that Silva surely fears in the competition.
However, luckily City have their own outstanding talent who are integral to their blossoming league form and likely their Champions League hopes.
City in the Premier League
That player, of course, is former Atletico striker Sergio Aguero.
The 26-year-old is currently the Premier League's top scorer, with 14 goals in 15 appearances. Including his three league assists, Aguero has had a hand in a goal almost every hour on the domestic stage so far.
This stands as 53 per cent of the side's 32 goals in the league.
As a result, City have turned around an early slump to remain on course to challenge league-leading Chelsea for the Premier League title.
Important wins over the likes of Liverpool, Everton, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, as well as draws with Chelsea and Arsenal, have reaffirmed their big-game, title credentials under manager Manuel Pellegrini.
The side are currently sweating over an extended injury layoff for Aguero, but with the likes of Edin Dzeko and Stevan Jovetic in reserve, as well as Samir Nasri (who had a goal and assist against Roma on Wednesday), they can continue their battle with the Blues in earnest.
City are now showing no fear in the Premier League, and this is a steely approach that the side must take in the Champions League.
Manchester City 3-2 Bayern Munich
After defeating Roma and securing their Champions League fate, Nasri claimed that City "can go as far as possible" in the competition.
This determination stems not only from this win, but also what was arguably the side's defining European result of the season so far: their 3-2 comeback victory at home to Bayern Munich.
A hat-trick from Aguero saw the Citizens capitalise on an early red card for Mehdi Benatia, although Bayern remained on top for large portions of the game.
This win stood as a turning point—and one that City's players clearly took heart from.
On Wednesday, without key players Silva, Aguero, Yaya Toure and Vincent Kompany in the starting line-up, City bested the Serie A title contenders with ease.
This win underlines a change in City's approach to the Champions League that stems from the confidence provided from their Etihad Stadium comeback against Bayern.
As he often has been this season, Aguero was once more central to that victory, but the clinical Nasri proved against Roma that City are able to vanquish such formidable opposition without their star striker.
Nasri continued in his eulogy that the side "have to be lucky in the draw," echoing the thoughts of Silva, but this is the wrong approach to take after such an impressive string of displays.
Encouragingly, James Milner took a more steadfast outlook, claiming, per the Daily Mail, that "to beat Bayern Munich and Roma to qualify, and do it with a number of injuries, shows the amount of quality there is right through the squad."
Manchester City must continue to play with this fearlessness in the Champions League, and David Silva is wrong to distance the side from Spanish opposition in the next round. To succeed in this competition, Manuel Pellegrini's side must be ready to tackle all challengers in all circumstances.
Statistics via WhoScored.com.
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