Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany says that it is time the Premier League club closed the gap on big clubs like Bayern Munich by doing well in the Champions League. City will once again face the Bavarians in the group stages of the Champions League. City manager Manuel Pellegrini has criticised the UEFA’s seeding system ahead of the match, as it will be the third time in the last three seasons that are familiar round of opposition will be meeting each other in the group stages. For this season, though, City have been handed a very tough draw with Roma and CSKA Moscow being the other group opponents.
City have dominated the Premier League in the last few years due to the massive investment from the Qatari owners. They have won the league title twice in the last three years, but the same kind of dominance has not applied to the European competitions. In fact, City have struggled in the Champions League during this period and have reached the last 16 stage once in their history. Undoubtedly, the tough draw in the group stages has not helped the Manchester club, but Kompany says that it is not time for its users. He has targeted a victory against Bayern in the first group match this season.
"It is a pleasure to come here [Munich]. It is always a chance to prove ourselves. There is probably not many harder places to come to. It is one of the best clubs in the world. It is the time to close the gap between us and those three, four best clubs in the world. It's time to start making these games close, making up the gap between ourselves and others. It is a good thing to start with such a game. But it is just the first step in the group stage. It is an important game,” said Kompany.