Manchester City midfielder Samir Nasri has said that the players might be replaced if his side fails to qualify for the Champions League knockout stages, as they are currently placed at the bottom of Group E, with two points from four matches and could be eliminated if they fail to beat Bayern Munich at Etihad Stadium on Tuesday.
Nasri said that they need to do something or otherwise next year it's going to be new players and new everything. City has never progressed beyond the last-16 stage of the competition. They could suffer a group-stage exit for a third time in four years if they lose and either CSKA Moscow or Roma win in the other group match, The BBC reported. City manager Manuel Pellegrini led the Premier League champions to the knockout stages for the first time last season.
Nasri said that honestly, with the salary of every player and the level of those players, 90 percent of the team are world class, then not to qualify from the first round of the Champions League would be a huge blow for the club and for them as well. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan and the Abu Dhabi ruling family have spent 750 million pounds on players alone since their August 2008 takeover. But Bayern midfielder Xabi Alonso says that City's European struggles show that financial might does not always bring success.
Alonso said that there is no set formula where one is buying success, and added that football is not mathematics. However, former Liverpool and Real Madrid man Alonso expects City's financial clout to translate to Champions League success eventually. He said that it's hard to tell from the outside but of course one expects that any season City would make that impact in Europe. Alonso said that so far they haven't done it but he is pretty sure that big year for City isn't far away because season by season they try to improve.
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