Former Arsenal and Man City full-back Bacary Sagna gives his verdict on this season’s Champions League favourites, including Champions League betting favourites Manchester City.
Everyones favourite tournament is back this week and two of the strong favourites again this year to lift the trophy will be Manchester City and PSG. The former Manchester City defender goes into detail of who he thinks has the best chance of lifting the famous trophy.
For me, it is between Man City and PSG.
Hopefully they don’t play each other before because that would be an amazing final. That game would be crazy.
You have amazing players on both sides. Neymar, Mbappe, Kevin de Bruyne, Erling Haaland, they always keep the same level. They’re so consistent.
For me, they are the two outstanding teams and one of them will win it for the first time.
It’s going to be a funny year this year with the World Cup in the middle of it, the first time ever we will have a World Cup in the winter months and the first time ever to have one in the Middle East.
We can’t wait for it to get going but for now we’re enjoying the Champions League action where both Manchester City and PSG got off to a flyer on Tuesday night.
The French man was also asked about Pep Guardiola and his quest to win the Champions League with Manchester City.
I don’t think about it because, to me, they will. I don’t know when, but it will surely happen.
They have extra pressure because whenever they reach the final, it won’t be about the game. Everybody will be talking about Pep, putting pressure on Pep. Is he good enough to win this?
And when they don’t, everybody talks about the money and how much certain players cost, which isn’t fair. The focus should be on what the team does on the pitch, not about the investment and whether they will have failed if they don’t win with such an expensive team.
You have to remember how many times Pep’s teams have reached the semi-finals and final of the Champions League. To be there at the end of the competition so often says a lot.
It’s not easy to keep a team at a high level for so long. Everybody says that it’s easy because of the money, but no. You have to deal with so much. The emotions, the characters and everything.
When he is consistently getting his teams to the end of the Champions League it is an amazing achievement.
I don’t think he can ever be called a failure. When he was my manager, I could not believe the attention to detail that goes into everything.
Every single training session is important, every single detail is there. If you don’t perform on the pitch you are to blame, because he has given you everything you need.
To me, if City just deal with the pressure a bit better they will definitely win it soon.
It’s going to make for a cracking season in Europe.