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Manchester City were well beaten by Real Madrid last year but have the opportunity to play with a points buffer next month
Manchester City threatened to give Real Madrid a reminder of who they had been last year. The Spanish giants arrived at the Etihad for the first leg of their Champions League play-off smelling blood against Pep Guardiola's wounded side but were stunned by two Erling Haaland goals and a raucous crowd.
Then a late collapse gave Real a 3-2 win to take back to the Bernabeu and by the time they arrived in Madrid a week later the race was already run for the Blues. Spanish reporters were more interested in whether Jude Bellingham had said a naughty word and the game had barely kicked off when it was all over; Haaland wasn't fit enough to feature at all, Ruben Dias gave a goal away in the opening few minutes and John Stones was forced off injured as Real celebrated.
City were a shadow of the team that rode the Bernabeu storm on their way to the Treble in 2023, and even the side that earned a thrilling 3-3 draw a year later. They were ravaged by injuries and saved their worst performances for the Champions League, culminating in their worst performance in Europe since Roberto Mancini was in charge.
Things are much better already this season. City do not know if they will be able to win any trophies this season but there is an optimism from Guardiola and the squad that they will at least be able to challenge for them. Three points at home to Napoli got their latest European campaign off to a promising start and three points at home to Leverkusen on Tuesday will lift them to 13 from their opening five matches.
Not only will that be two points more than they managed from eight last season - effectively qualifying them for the top-24 already and giving them a platform to push for a top-eight spot - but it will also mean they will head back to Madrid next month ahead of their great modern rivals in the standings. A 1-0 defeat at Anfield means that Xabi Alonso's side have a point fewer than City, and a win at Olympiacos will not enable them to leapfrog them if Guardiola's side beat Leverkusen.
That gives City the advantage, meaning they do not even have to play for a win in what is easily their toughest of the eight games in the first phase. A draw would be enough to mean they stay ahead of Real with two fixtures left, and while that doesn't necessarily mean they will automatically make the round of 16 it is a much better position to be in than they scraped to last year.
Having gone toe-to-toe with Real for three successive years in epic Champions League bouts, City can at least give them a fight when they head there in December. And if they have managed to beat Leverkusen, they can take the confidence that comes with starting a game with the upper hand.
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