“I do not want to suffer” – Champions League manager reveals Manchester City fear ahead of 2024/25 campaign | OneFootball

City Football Group’s Girona will be competing in the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League campaign for the very first time in the club’s history, it was confirmed at the weekend.

The Catalan club are widely viewed as being the ultimate success story within the City Football Group and away from Manchester City, having battled Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid for the leading spaces in the La Liga table this season.

With a strong squad at their disposal, investing in an ideology implemented by a highly-rated manager, Girona will now be playing at the very top of European football next season, following their latest result in the Spanish top-flight.

Manchester City supporters will be more than familiar with a few of the names starring for Girona this season too, with on loan right-back Yan Couto making up part of the back-four, whilst Savio – who is expected to join Pep Guardiola’s side – excelling on the wings.

However, whilst speaking during a new interview with Spanish outlet Cadena SER, as translated and relayed by Sport Witness, Girona’s manager Míchel has indicated his reluctance to face Manchester City in next season’s competition for two reasons.

“I would like to go to Liverpool because in Vallecas we have always sung Rayo-Liverpool,” Míchel admitted. “But any team you are talking about at the level European, from Bayern to Juve, are teams that I have seen on TV every Wednesday and makes me excited.”

Continuing on the subject of their fellow City Football Group side and the reigning Premier League champions, Míchel said, “I would not like Manchester City to be our rival because we have some connection and apart from that, I do not want to suffer.”

Manchester City were unable to retain their UEFA Champions League title this season, ultimately crashing out of the competition at the quarter-final stage through a penalty shoot-out defeat to Real Madrid.

City failed to lose a single game in regulation time throughout the tournament, having dismissed of Crvena zvezda, BSC Young Boys, and RB Leipzig in the group stage, before progressing past Copenhagen in the last-16.

A busy summer transfer window is expected from Etihad Stadium bosses in the coming months, as they look to equip Pep Guardiola with the strongest squad possible to target a historic Treble and possibly more once again.