Poll: Will it be United or City that win Manchester’s UCL battle?
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The Champions League is back as Europe’s elite bid to prove to the rest that they are the dominant force on the continent. But for the purpose of today’s poll we’re looking at a more local affair.
Both Manchester City and Manchester United begin their Group stage campaigns this evening, and there will be a sense of competition between the two sets of fans as to who goes further.
The Citizen’s are priced up as 12/5 second-favourites to progress deeper into the competition than any other English side, while United are 10/3 outsiders.
The two clubs’ history in the competition are wildly different. While City have been relative newcomers in the event, they have also been perennial underachievers.
The Red Devils will be bidding to bounce back in style having missed last year’s renewal, but their record in the tournament is fearsome in comparison to their near neighbours.
Under Messrs Ferguson and Moyes, the Old Trafford outfit have reached the final three times in the past decade, and have only failed to progress past the Group stages once in that period.
For the blue half of Manchester though, Europe hasn’t come with the success that the quality of their squad promises.
Manuel Pellegrini’s men have only twice got out of their group, and even then they were knocked out in the last 16.
A tough pool including Juventus, Sevilla and Borussia Monchengladbach means that they could once again struggle if refusing to translate their domestic swagger to the continent.
United meanwhile have a relatively straightforward group of PSV, Wolfsburg and CSKA Moscow and should be expected to progress without too much bother.
The question then will be how they cope with the Barcelonas and Real Madrids of this world?
Both sides of Manchester will be missing key players tonight in Sergio Aguero and Wayne Rooney, but this evening’s events will be far from the full story as they look to outdo their bitterest of rivals.
Who will come out on top? Tell us now…
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All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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