Manchester City are about to embark on their 14th Champions League campaign and here is how they have performed in the competition every year so far.
The Champions League will take on a new format in the 2024/25 season with the typical ‘group stage’ making way for a ‘league phase’ that will see Manchester City come up against eight different teams as they bid to finish in the top eight of the table.
City first qualified for Europe’s top competition in 2011 and they have been involved in some of the most memorable games in the 13 years since.
While Pep Guardiola eventually attained glory by finally bringing the famous trophy to the Etihad, there have been several heartbreaking knock-outs and wild eliminations, too.
Here is how City have performed in every one of their Champions League campaigns.
- Champions League 2024/25: New changes, league phase draw details, who Man City will face, full schedule
2011/12: Knocked out in the groups
City’s first foray into the Champions League was a short-lived affair, with Roberto Mancini’s side failing to make it out of the group stages.
The Blues’ first match in the competition was a 1-1 stalemate with Napoli but their next game was a stinging 2-0 defeat to Bayern Munich.
With everything on the line in the third game against Villarreal, Sergio Aguero bagged a 94th-minute winner to keep qualification hopes alive. A 3-0 victory against the Spaniards followed but then a 2-1 defeat in Naples all but ended the campaign.
Even a 2-0 victory against Bayern in Manchester didn’t save them from elimination. City went into the Europa League where they were knocked out in the Round of 16 by Sporting.
Record – Games: 6. Wins 3. Draws: 1. Losses: 2.
2012/13: Group stage exit again
City returned to the Champions League the following season as English champions but fared even worse in their second attempt to get out of the groups.
The Blues were given a very difficult draw as they were placed in the same group as Spanish champions Real Madrid, Dutch champions Ajax and German champions, plus eventual finalists, Borussia Dortmund.
City struggled and didn’t manage to win a single game, losing all their away matches and drawing the reverse fixtures at the Etihad.
Record – Games: 6. Wins 0. Draws: 3. Losses: 3.
2013/14: Out of the groups… but couldn’t last much longer
At the third time of asking, City finally made it out of the groups in 2013/14 and did so in style.
With Manuel Pellegrini at the helm, City won five of their six group games, only slipping up at home to Bayern but going on to defeat them in Bavaria. The two sides finished equal on 15 points, with the Blues second on goal difference.
That finish would be costly as Barcelona, who were still remarkable with Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, Xavi and the rest even though Guardiola had departed, were their opponent in the last 16,
Barca won 4-1 on aggregate, with Messi and Dani Alves getting the goals in England and in the return fixture. Vincent Kompany grabbed City’s only goal in the tie.
Record – Games: 8. Wins 5. Draws: 0. Losses: 3.
2014/15: Another elimination by Barcelona
City tend to get drawn with a lot of the same opponents in the Champions League and this first became obvious when they were drawn in the groups with Bayern Munich for the third time in four years in 2014.
It was a tough start in Group E as defeat to the Germans was followed with consecutive draws at home to Roma and away at CSKA Moscow and then a shock defeat to the Russians in Manchester.
City needed a miracle to go through and they found it when Aguero equalised in the 85th minute and then found a winner in added time to defeat Bayern 3-2 in the next game. A 2-0 win in Rome ensured they qualified in second place.
That proved to be an issue once more, though, as they again came across the path of Barcelona.
This time the Catalonians had the famed front three of Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez and won 3-1 on aggregate on their way to the treble.
Record – Games: 8. Wins 2. Draws: 2. Losses: 4.
2015/16: All the way to the semi-finals!
From hardly being able to get out the groups and not making it past the last 16, City soared all the way to a semi-final finish in 2016.
Despite losing to Juventus home and away, City still managed to top Group D by winning their four matches against Sevilla and Borussia Monchengladbach.
A kinder last-16 draw saw them ease past Dynamo Kyiv before meeting Paris Saint Germain in the quarters. An entertaining first-leg finished two apiece before Kevin De Bruyne’s late strike made the difference in the second.
Old foes Real Madrid were next in the semi-finals and when a nervy opening game finished goalless, it was winner-takes-all all in the Spanish capital.
It transpired to be a limp end to the run, with a 20th-minute Fernando own-goal deciding the game as City crashed out.
Record – Games: 12. Wins 6. Draws: 3. Losses: 3.
2016/17: Monaco disaster
Guardiola was hired in the summer and with his arrival came the promise of stronger European performances and the aim of finally claiming the famous trophy.
Things got off to a great start with a 4-0 win over Gladbach but then came a draw at Celtic and a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Barcelona, with Messi grabbing a hat-trick.
Messi scored again in the reverse fixture but an Ilkay Gundogan double and De Bruyne goal saw City claim a 3-1 win. Two more draws saw them sneak through.
A seemingly favourable last-16 draw with Monaco was next and City came out of a wildly entertaining first leg 5-3 winners.
However, a Kylian Mbappe-inspired Monaco shell-shocked City by racing into a two-goal lead at home, winning 3-1 and going through on away goals after a remarkable 6-6 aggregate draw.
City would go on to sign Bernardo Silva and Benjamin Mendy off the back of the match, which was the first of many dramatic European exits to come.
Record – Games: 10. Wins 5. Draws: 3. Losses: 2.
2017/18: Liverpool anguish
City first met Shakhtar Donetsk in 2017 and the teams would become well aware of each other in the years to come.
The group stages began to get easy for City and they won five straight games before losing the final game after already securing top spot.
Basel were easily dispatched in the last 16 before Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool came in the quarter-finals, a hotly-contested tie that would go on to spark an era-defining rivalry.
The dominant Reds smashed City 5-1 on aggregate but the tie was far closer than that suggests, with City having a perfectly legal goal wrong disallowed to make the aggregate score 3-2 before Liverpool pulled away.
Record – Games: 10. Wins 6. Draws: 0. Losses: 4.
2018/19: Tottenham catastrophe
Despite losing to Lyon in the opening game, City strolled to the knockout stages – smashing nine goals past Shakhtar over two games alone – and made light work of Schalke in the last 16.
Yet, they would come undone in the quarter-finals once again to English opposition, this time Tottenham.
Spurs won a cagey first leg in London to set up a sensational second leg, which City won 4-3 but were knocked out on away goals.
That tells just half the story of a game in which there were four goals after just 11 extraordinary minutes.
The Blues then took a 4-2 lead in the second half before Fernando Llorente scored – with a goal that would have been against the rules the following season due to the use of the arm – to make it 4-3 going into the closing stages.
There would be yet more drama late on as Raheem Sterling thought he’d scored an incredible winner to complete a hat trick before VAR intervened to rule the goal out for off-side.
A sensational game, a crushing exit and perhaps the nadir of City’s Champions League eliminations.
Record – Games: 10. Wins 7. Draws: 1. Losses: 2.
2019/20: Yet more agony
The 2019/20 season was a campaign marred by the Covid-19 pandemic which saw football across the globe put on ice for months.
City had once again cake-walked a group stage containing Shakhtar but still managed to draw Real Madrid in the last 16.
But in a massive step of European maturity, they emerged from the Bernabeu as 2-1 winners. Sadly, the second leg would not be played for nearly five months. When it finally came around in August, City again won 2-1 but there were no fans in to witness it.
In order to get the competition finished, second legs were scrapped for the remaining knock-out games, with a mini-tournament being held in Portugal for the last few fixtures.
With a favourable draw against Lyon in the quarters, City were among the favourites to win the whole thing but were handed a shocking and agonising defeat.
With the game stuck at 1-1 in the final ten minutes, Moussa Dembele struck twice to send the French side through and City home.
Record – Games: 9. Wins 6. Draws: 2. Losses: 1.
2020/21: Heartbreak in the Champions League final vs Chelsea
After four failed attempts, Guardiola finally guided City past the quarters and reached the final of the Champions League in 2021.
The Blues went undefeated throughout the whole tournament, getting through their group with ease, then advancing past Gladbach, Dortmund and PSG in dominant fashion. Fans still weren’t in stadiums which made everything bittersweet, but it looked like it would finally be City’s year.
Only 14,110 fans were permitted in the Estadio Do Dragao, Porto, for the final, as City met Chelsea for the grandest prize.
Yet, City fans’ optimism was dealt a blow upon the team news when it revealed Guardiola had opted not to play either Rodri or Fernandinho in the heart of midfield. The Blues boss had often been accused of ‘overthinking’ knock-out ties and this one appeared to be the worst example yet.
A Kai Havertz goal just before the break was all that decided a tight affair, with Aguero’s final game ending in the worst kind of tears.
Record – Games: 13. Wins 11. Draws: 1. Losses: 1.
2021/22: Real Madrid’s revenge
City came back from the Porto agony firing on all cylinders as they blasted six goals past RB Leipzig in their first game back in the competition. A defeat at PSG was a potential spanner in the works but two big victories over Club Brugge followed by a win over the Parisians in Manchester ensured they qualified with little issue.
Sporting were easily seen off next before a remarkably tough draw with Atletico Madrid followed. A late De Bruyne winner was the difference in the opening leg, with City drawing an ill-tempered affair in Madrid to advance.
A swift return to the Spanish capital followed as City yet again came face to face with Real Madrid in the semi-finals.
City were sensational in the first leg, scoring two within 11 minutes, but they just couldn’t keep Madrid at bay. Every time they took a two-goal lead, Los Blanoc pulled one back to keep within touching distance. The game finished 4-3.
Still, when Riyad Mahrez scored late on in another cagey second leg, it looked as though City were destined for the final. Then Rodrygo struck in the 90th minute to take the game to extra-time. The Brazilian scored immediately after the restart to send City reeling.
When Karim Benzema tucked away a penalty four minutes later, the dream of returning to the final was left in tatters.
Record – Games: 12. Wins 7. Draws: 2. Losses: 3.
2022/23: Winners! Victory over Inter in the Champions League final
All that pain. All those shocking and near-inexplainable exits. They were all worth it when City finally won the Champions League, completing the treble in the process.
This time around, there was an almost alarming lack of drama as City clinically and professionally went about clinching the trophy.
The arrival of Erling Haaland obviously helped, with the Norwegian sensation scoring five times in the group stages and then stuck another five past RB Leipzig in the second leg of the last 16 tie alone.
City were cautious on the away legs of their knockout ties, drawing all of them and defeating their opponents at home. Bayern Munich were seen off next before Madrid once again stood in their way of a final.
After the 1-1 opener, City absolutely demolished the kings of Europe 4-0 at the Etihad, putting their greatest European foe to the sword in style to truly announce their place among the elites.
The final lacked all of that quality and verve but Rodri’s rocket strike decided the guilt-egded match and finally secured the elusive trophy.
Record – Games: 13. Wins 8. Draws: 5. Losses: 0.
2023/24: Penalty pain
City looked likely to reclaim their crown as they put in their best ever group stage display in 2023/24, winning every game and scoring three in each one, too.
The remarkable scoring run continued in the last 16 as they defeated FC Copenhagen 3-1 twice but then came the old enemy Real Madrid, once again thirsty for revenge.
The first leg was away and City managed to score three for the ninth game running, though this time their opponents did, too. City led, fell behind and came back to lead again before it finished 3-3, setting up a tantalising second leg.
A nerve-shredding affair finished 1-1 and went all the way to penalties. Luka Modric missed the first one for Madrid but City couldn’t capitalise as Bernardo Silva saw his next kick saved.
When Mateo Kovacic missed next, Madrid stormed to the win on their way to claiming the trophy once again.
Record – Games: 10. Wins 8. Draws: 2. Losses: 0. (Defeated on penalties.
