Man City dealt £45million blow as reality sets in

• Sport
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• UEFA Champions League

Manchester City were beaten in the Champions League last-16 tie with Real Madrid and as a result will lose out on as much as nearly £50million in prize money

Manchester City's Champions League campaign is over for another season after a 5-1 aggregate defeat to Real Madrid.

The Blues failed to overturn a 3-0 first-leg deficit, slipping to a 2-1 defeat at the Etihad with their fate effectively sealed when Bernardo Silva was sent off midway through the first half and Vinicius Jr converted from the spot.

And as well as seeing a chance for silverware disappear, the last-16 exit will also hit City in the pocket. The expansion of the tournament to include more teams and more games is supposed to make more money for teams, and part of the money being weighted towards the UEFA coefficient (aka performances over recent years in Europe) and TV money depending on national splits put City in an even stronger position. Their performance on the pitch, however, saw them waste that advantage last year and again this.

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Having claimed around £116m in prize money for winning the Champions League in 2023, City took home just £65m last year. Their payment for 'value' to the competition was second only to eventual winners PSG, but an awful performance in the group stage was followed up by an exit at the hands of Real in the play-off round to mean they only mustered £10.7m for performance - a third of what Liverpool got for lasting just one more round and even less than Celtic.

An improvement this season meant they claimed around £71.6m from the group stage alone and will be rewarded for a top-eight finish as well as participation in the last-16. But after being knocked out by Real again, City face losing out on considerable sums again.

UEFA hand out €12.5m to any team reaching the quarter-finals, €15m more for semi-finalists, €18m more for making the final and an extra €6.5m for winning the competition. That is an extra £44.9m (€52m) alone that will add to the reputational pain of another early exit from a club that expects so much more.