Manchester City’s B team are strong enough to win the Champions League, admits Andre Villas-Boas
Ahead of Marseille’s clash against Manchester City, Andre Villas-Boas believes that the Cityzens have enough quality and depth that their ‘B’ team could win the Champions League. Pep Guardiola’s side have qualified for the round of 16 with dominating performances over all their Group C opponents.
While many expected a lot from Olympique Marseille, things haven’t gone according to plan for Andre Villas-Boas’ outfit, especially in the Champions League. Their five games has seen them lose four times with just one win so far which has placed their Europa League hopes int rouble. They need Porto to win in order to finish third and in the Europa League or better Olympiacos’ result.
But with City already qualified for the next round, many expect Guardiola to field a rotated side which hands Marseille a slightly better chance of winning. Yet despite that, Andre Villas-Boas has admitted that City’s second team, or B squad, are good enough to win the entire tournament. Not only that, the Portuguese manager believes that they can’t rely on Porto for their result and will have to fight their best.
"Qualifying is not in our hands. Hopefully Porto will do us a favour but we know it is going to be hard against Manchester City. They have so many options, and so many top-level options as well. We cannot rely on Porto but we must be at our best to get a positive result because City’s B team are strong enough to win the Champions League, I think,” Villa-Boas said, reported Goal.
With Manchester City reaching the semi-finals last time around, the pressure is on Guardiola to ensure that his side wins the trophy as City believe that he is the man to help them do that. Yet, Andre Villas-Boas believes that while the expectations are high at Manchester City, Pep Guardiola is the right man to help City achieve their goal. The Marseille manager further added that the Spaniard is an expert and his experience will prove to be immense for the club.
“The expectations have been very high for City but there will be nobody with more willingness to win it than Pep at this moment. Every year that they start they believe it’s going to be their year and they have the capacity and the squad, but it’s down to small details. In the Champions League I’m no expert. Pep is the expert, he’s won it twice as a manager. City have been waiting so long, and the quality they have is second to none, the options they have," he added.