Ferran Soriano: Manchester City in a 'better place' to win Champions League again

Manchester City CEO Ferran Soriano is confident that the club's Champions League triumph last season will benefit their new campaign.

Ever since the Abu Dhabi United Group took over at Manchester City in 2008, they've been working towards the goal of claiming a first-ever Champions League title.

The club came agonisingly close to their target in 2022 when they made it to the semi-final stage, but they were beaten 6-5 on aggregate by European giants Real Madrid thanks to Karim Benzema's extra-time winner.

Many believe last season's Champions League success will make the 2023/24 campaign harder than ever, due to the added pressure of defending the title.

However, Soriano reckons the opposite is true, because City no longer feel the weight of missing out on the trophy year after year.

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"We have four trophies, and a lot of people are very happy about it and congratulating us and saying: 'what a season'. What I say is, it's not a season - it's a decade, a decade of hard work," said Soriano, as quoted by Manchester Evening News.

"Winning the Champions League is symbolic and very important and has helped the visibility of the club. But the cold reality is that we could have lost that final.

"One year ago, we lost a semi-final in a game in Madrid that we were winning 0-1 in the 90th minute. We conceded two goals in one minute and in the previous year we lost the final.

"Ultimately, it's not a year, it's a decade. A decade of hard work and consistency. The way Manchester City plays football in the last decade is the same with little variations, but the pillars are the same.

"After losing in Madrid it was one of the worst days of our lives, we had 24 hours of drama.

"I tell people they can be miserable for 24 hours and in hour 25 we need to wake up, we need to move on and we need to think about the next game. That's what made us champions.

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"Now people say this season is going to be very tough because the bar is higher and people will ask you to win it again and I say 'no way it's just the contrary'.

"We knew this Manchester City team was able to win the Champions League and we lost it and lost it and lost it, but now we won it and people are relaxed.

"We're now in a better place, we're going to try to win again but we felt the weight on our shoulders of almost winning year after year."

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