Manchester City have having a very difficult season, going from a near-unstoppable titan to a vulnerable and beatable side.
The Citizens were easily beaten by Real Madrid in their Champions League play-off second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday night.
It was Manchester City’s 13th defeat of the season in all competitions, which is now the most ever by a Pep Guardiola side in a single campaign in his managerial career.
City are also well off the pace in the Premier League title race and, as things stand, the FA Cup is now their most realistic chance of silverware this season.
Jamie Carragher has now predicted whether City could actually fall short of even qualifying for the Champions League next season.
Jamie Carragher backs Manchester City to ‘just’ about qualify for Champions League
Carragher, speaking on CBS Sports, was actually fairly optimistic about City’s chances of qualifying for the competition.
The Liverpool cult hero said City’s rivals for a top-four finish, namely Aston Villa, Newcastle United and Chelsea, have all been below-par recently.
As a result, City will “just” about make it into the top four, according to Carragher.
“I think they will, just, just,” said Carragher. “A lot of teams around them now are just getting into bad form.
“Aston Villa played Liverpool (Wednesday night) and it’s probably a good result for them in a lot of ways, but they’ve dropped two points in their last two home games.
“Newcastle have lost three of their last four, Chelsea are really struggling. City have put a bit of a run together of late.”
Manchester City handed further boost in Champions League qualification pursuit
As things stand, the top four teams in the Premier League qualify for the Champions League, but that could change next season.
Two leagues across Europe will each be rewarded with an additional spot in the 2025-26 Champions League as a reward for their coefficient ranking.
And as things stand, England leads the coefficient rankings table, putting the Premier League on track for the fifth-placed team to qualify for the Champions League.
| Ranking | Country | Points | Clubs left in Europe |
| 1 | England | 106.6 | 6 from 7 |
| 2 | Italy | 93.2 | 4 from 8 |
| 3 | Spain | 89.1 | 6 from 7 |
| 4 | Germany | 84 | 6 from 8 |
| 5 | France | 70 | 3 from 7 |
Six of the Premier League’s seven teams involved in this season’s three UEFA competitions have reached the last 16 of their respective tournaments.
