EL would be a good achievement, however with a table spoon of luck CL is also possible. If city wins at Madrid and Ajax wins at Dortmund a draw will give them second place. Ok maybe more than a table spoon is needed =P
I can't see Man City picking up much against either Dortmund or Madrid. Particularly when you look at their league schedule around those fixtures:
17th Nov - Man City vs. Aston Villa
21st Nov - Man City vs. Madrid
25th Nov - Chelsea vs. Man City
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1st Dec - Man City vs. Everton
4th Dec - Dortmund vs. Man City
9th Dec - Man City vs. Man Utd
There's no way they can rest players whilst maintaining a strong push for both the European and domestic leagues. Even prior to the Aston Villa game, they have Tottenham and after the United game, they have Newcastle.
Not a lot to look forward to tonight. If Man Utd beat Braga and Galatasaray win/draw against Cluj, we'll qualify in first. That leaves us two games to either go for the 18 points or rest first team players and allow the inexperienced players to have a shot. I hope it's the latter. If you're guaranteed first place, you might as well focus on the league games. Particularly when all of those challenging at the top are still competing in European competitions.
But of course, the games are still yet to be played. It could still not go our way.
The largest margin of victory in the knockout stage in the current Champions League format is 7-0: Bayern Munich beat Basel in the first knockout round in 2011-12.
We're well on course for a record.
Edit: They've already broken the first half record.
