4 Reasons Why Manchester City Have No Excuses In The Champions League

3. People Say City's Players Are Inexperienced, I Say Otherwise

Pundits, fanzines, managers & players are all pointing to City's squads' inexperience in the Champions League, stating it may take a few years before they actually start to challenge the established order - much like it took a few years before their squad became good enough to challenge the then top four of Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool. However, I'm of the opinion that the squad they currently possess has the experience to cope and they are currently under-performing and using the excuse of Champions League new comers as a way to deflect the media limelight elsewhere. In the 2011/12 squad the following players have Champions League experience: firstly, Yaya Touré actually played at CB for FC Barcelona during the successful 2009 Champions League Final and has Champions League experience dating from 2007 (for FC Barcelona) to the present day. Secondly, David Silva played in the Champions League for Valencia during the 2010/2011 season, has won the Copa del Rey and also been triumphant in the last three international tournaments available for a senior European player - Euro 2008, World Cup 2010 & Euro 2012. Thirdly, in November 2008, Balotelli became Inter Milan's youngest ever Champions League goalscorer when he netted in a 3-3 draw against Anorthosis - no mean feat for a player of just 18 years and 85 days. Balotelli also appeared in the semi final in 2010 against Spanish giants FC Barcelona. Fourthly, perhaps the best example of Champions League experience within the City squad is one Carlos Tevez - he played for Manchester United during the whole of the 2007-2008 Champions League campaign - winning the tournament and scoring a decent total of five goals. He also played in Manchester United's 2008-2009 campaign. So, as you can see Manchester City's star names do have Champions League experience - and that list does not even include Samir Nasri, Gael Clichy, Sergio Aguero, Javi Garcia or Kolo Toure. So, I think that puts pain to the myth that Manchester City's players are lacking in Champions League experience. It definitely points towards the fact that Manchester City are under-performing.