Gary Neville says this could still be Man City’s ‘best season’ if they lift a debut Champions League
This season could still be the „best“ in Manchester City’s history, says Gary Neville, despite the club being all-but out of title contention.
City lifted their sixth domestic trophy out of seven with a 2-1 win over Aston Villa at Wembley on Sunday, but have found themselves off the pace in the Premier League, where they trail leaders Liverpool by 22 points with a game in hand.
Speaking on the Gary Neville Podcast, Neville said a first Champions League win – with City leading Real Madrid 2-1 after the first leg of their last-16 tie – would still surpass anything the club has achieved in previous years, including a record 100-point haul to lift the Premier League trophy in 2018.
He said: „It could be their best season if they win the Champions League. What’s happened with UEFA makes them dangerous.
„They’re wounded as a club, maybe they needed that in some ways, over the last few years in the Champions League they’ve always looked like they’re not quite ready but I have to say, I thought that performance at Real Madrid was excellent, with a different level of feeling in it.
„They’ve built some squad. Guardiola’s record in finals is fantastic, he’s addicted to winning and the mentality they have at the moment is one that’s difficult – they’re not going to win the league this season, but they’ve still got momentum and are winning trophies.
„This won’t give them confidence, they’re already confident, but it’ll make them think ‘we’re still winners’. They’ve dropped off in the league, Liverpool have been absolutely outstanding and they’re going to have to watch the Premier League title be given somewhere else.
„But going back to when I was playing at Manchester United in a very successful era, if you won a trophy in a season where you didn’t win the league, it was still a good season.“
‘Some achievement with eight changes’
It was a new-look City team, near enough, from the one that won in Spain on Wednesday night, with only Rodri, Kyle Walker and Ilkay Gundogan remaining in Guardiola’s starting line-up.
That had little impact though, as Guardiola won a 13th final out of the 14 he has competed in as a manager, with Sergio Aguero and Rodri on target at Wembley.
„The result went as I expected, but how we got there – I thought Manchester City might win more comfortably,“ Neville said. „They were the better side, obviously, we always expected that.
„In the first half I feared for Aston Villa, I thought it could be three, four, five and six and I said Dean Smith needed to get his men in at half-time at 2-0, but they got a goal back and that made the game really interesting.
„Their second-half approach was positive, City had many chances but Aston Villa put up a good fight, but Manchester City are just a fantastic team. Eight changes from Wednesday, to go to Real Madrid and then come here with a completely different team nearly and win a final is some achievement.“
Soccer Accumulator Bonus
Our fantastic Euro Soccer accumulator offer gives you the chance to earn a bonus of up to 100% on accumulators on the top domestic leagues in Europe along with the group and knockout stages of the Champions League.
This offer applies to returns on pre-match accumulators of 3 or more selections on Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for the English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga 1 or UEFA Champions League.
The maximum bonus that you can receive is ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. The bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based .on the remaining active stake. If a qualifying bet is edited .using our Edit Bet feature. The bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply. Double Chance bets or combination bets with bonuses. Such as Lucky 15’s or Lucky .31’s do not apply for this offer.
If your bet is successful, we will add the following bonuses to your returns:
Bet Type Bonus
14-folds and upwards 100% bonus
Terms and Conditions
Applies to straight pre-match accumulator bets on the Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for UEFA Champions League, English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga .1 or Australian A-League matches. Maximum bonus ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. Soccer Accumulator Bonus does not apply to Double Chance bets or combination. bets with bonuses such as Lucky 15’s, Lucky 31’s etc.
If any selections are postponed/void then the bonus will still apply, but the percentage bonus added will reflect the actual number of winning selections. For example, an 8-fold accumulator with 7. winners and 1 postponed match will receive a 30% .bonus to returns.
The bonus part of your returns will be added to your account within 24 hours of your final selection having played.
This bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based on the remaining active stake.
If a qualifying bet is edited using our Edit Bet feature, the bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply.
Where any term of the offer or promotion is breached or there is any evidence of a series of bets placed by a customer or group of customers, which due to a deposit bonus, enhanced payments, free bets, risk free bets or any other promotional offer results in guaranteed customer profits irrespective of the outcome, whether individually or as part of a group, bet365 reserves the right to reclaim the bonus element of such offers and in their absolute discretion either settle bets at the correct odds, void the free and risk free. bets or void any bet funded by the deposit bonus.
In addition bet365 .reserve the right to levy an administration charge on the customer up to the value of the deposit bonus, free bet, risk free bet or additional payment to cover administrative costs. We further reserve the right to ask any customer to provide sufficient documentation for us to be satisfied in our absolute discretion as to the customer’s identity prior to us crediting any bonus, free bet, risk free bet or offer to their account.
All bet365 offers are intended for recreational players and bet365 may in its sole discretion limit the eligibility of customers to participate in all or part of any promotion.
bet365 reserves the right to amend, cancel, reclaim or refuse any promotion at its own discretion.
