Zimpapers Logo

MANCHESTER CITY face relegation back to the third tier of seeds for next season’s Champions League if they are eliminated from Europe by Bayern Munich today.The Premier League champions will suffer the ignominy of a group stage exit for the third time in four seasons if they lose to Pep Guardiola’s team at the Etihad Stadium and City will also crash out if they draw with Bayern and CSKA Moscow or Roma emerge as winners from their encounter in the Russian capital.

Having failed to win any of their four Group E games so far this season, however, City have collected just 7.228 co-efficient points from their current Champions League campaign and are set to be overtaken by Group C leaders Bayer Leverkusen — seeded in Pot Three for this season’s draw — if they fail to qualify for the knockout stages or the Europa League.

Uefa are expected to change the seeding system for the 2015-15 Champions League competition, with the top eight seeds being the reigning European champions and the winners of the seven highest-ranked European leagues.

Had this system been in place this season, City would have earned a top tier seeding and avoided facing Bayern in the group stage. But unless City overhaul Chelsea to retain the Premier League title this season, their inability to boost their co-efficient tally could see them back in Pot Three, with the nightmare scenario of another daunting group draw next summer.

City would retain hope of holding onto their Pot Two status by qualifying for the Europa League if they fail to secure a top two finish in Group E.

But if Manuel Pellegrini’s players finish bottom of their group and are eliminated from Europe altogether, they will collect no further points in the second half of the season and risk being passed by Leverkusen, Juventus, FC Basel and Inter Milan, who are currently leading their Europa League group. — The Telegraph