THE CLASH at Old Trafford yesterday was all about the title race as the two sides of Manchester met.
Yet this season I can see that rivalry going to a higher level with the Champions League.
Today we have five English teams in the last-16 knockout draw and I have not been this confident in years that one of them can lift the ultimate prize.
It is as open a battle for the biggest club trophy as I can remember for a long time.
To say we have nothing to fear would be pushing it. But I don’t see the gap between ourselves and Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich being as big as it has been over recent seasons.
We once again have teams and — more importantly — coaches who can put us back on top again. The two who have the best chance of doing that are Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola, who both have two Champions League titles.
For me, Pep’s City look our best bet. To win this trophy you need something a bit special. I went to the final last season and, having tipped Juventus at the start of the competition, they were swamped by the sheer quality of Real, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Luka Modric the stand-out players.
City have those players who can make a difference at the very highest level in Kevin De Bruyne, Sergio Aguero and David Silva.
They were excellent in qualifying, with defeat in their final game of no consequence as they had already sealed top spot.
They have shown the quality they have in depth, too.
Gabriel Jesus would walk into any other side in the country but has to challenge with the club’s record goalscorer for a game if Pep decides to play one up front.
With a title still to be won and the demanding midweek Champions League trips starting again in February that strength is what will be the difference.
So what of our other challengers? Manchester United have not been in a position to challenge for the Champions League since Sir Alex Ferguson bowed out.
Now they are back and in Mourinho have a coach who knows how to win it, even with an unfancied side.
He did it with Porto in 2004 and Inter in 2010, both amazing triumphs against the odds.
I have said it before in this column, Mourinho is the master at getting a result. He is pragmatic enough to know when that handbrake needs to come on if it means winning a game.
Let’s be fair, it is not a bad team Mourinho has got to work with, either.
They do lack that bit of magic. But they are a very strong side and have the best goalkeeper in the world.
In a competition where the finest of margins decide winners, that is a huge plus.
Chelsea are back in the last 16 but there is definitely something wrong with them. The manager and team looked stuck in second gear in their defeat to West Ham on Saturday. There is clearly a problem between Antonio Conte and the hierarchy.
Unless he is given funds to strengthen in the New Year they are not going to get much further in Europe.
Liverpool, of course, have a strike force that is the envy of many as they proved with their spectacular 7-0 destruction of Spartak Moscow in the midweek.
It was not a tough group however and, while they conceded just six goals, they remain vulnerable at the back. You cannot be as open as they are and so suspect defensively and win this competition.
As for Spurs? Well they did incredibly well to top a group that included both Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund. Tottenham dropped just two points along the way — and that was a draw at the Bernabeu.
They are, on their day, a match for anyone.
Yet there remains a fragility about them. They don’t look like winners.
Mauricio Pochettino has missed a trick by not going for a domestic trophy to instil that winning mentality.
By contrast Mourinho and Guardiola are winners and come May 26 in Kiev they could be again in the biggest club competition of them all.
From The Sun
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