City face QPR again at the Etihad on Saturday with memories of the dramatic end to last season fresh in the mind at the home of the champions.
Roberto Mancini has admitted he may have lost his job as Manchester City manager had Sergio Aguero failed to deliver the Premier League trophy to the Etihad Stadium with his injury-time winner against Queens Park Rangers last season.
City face QPR again at the Etihad tonight (Saturday) with memories of the dramatic end to last season fresh in the mind at the home of the champions.
And although Mancini's reward for winning the title was a new five-year contract this summer, the Italian admits he finds it difficult to contemplate what might have happened had City blown their chance of glory.
"Probably you would have been talking with another manager now," he said. "We didn't win the championship in the last second, though. We won the last championship during all the season.
"Football is beautiful because anything can happen in one game. I hope this year we can get the same result but don't concede one or two goals a game."
City were unable to land a routine draw in the group stage of the Champions League and Mancini's team face Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Ajax in Group D.
In the opening fixture City will travel to Madrid to face Real, but despite previous friction between Mancini and Real manager Jose Mourinho, Mancini insists the game is bigger than a personality clash.
"This is not Mourinho-Mancini, it is Real Madrid-Manchester City," Mancini said.
"It is fantastic to play against three top teams, but we have four strong months until December when we finish the group and we need to have all the players ready every three days for this reason."
Group stages, first round Sept 20
Group A Liverpool, Udinese, Young Boys, Anzhi Makhachkala (Russia)
Group B Atletico Madrid, Hapoel Tel-Aviv, Viktoria Plzen (Czech Rep), Coimbra (Portugal)
Group C Marseille, Fenerbahce, Munchengladbach, AEL Limassol
Group D Bordeaux, Club Bruges, Newcastle, Maritimo (Portugal)
Group E VfB Stuttgart, Copenhagen, Steaua Bucharest, Molde (Norway)
Group F PSV Eindhoven, Napoli, Dnipropetrovsk (Ukraine), AIK Solna (Sweden)
Group G Sporting Lisbon, Basle, Genk, Videoton (Hungary)
Group H Inter Milan, Rubin Kazan (Russia), Partizan Belgrade, Neftgi PFK (Azerbaijan)
Group I Lyon, Athletic Bilbao, Sparta Prague, Hapoel Kiryat Shmona (Israel)
Group J Tottenham, Panathinaikos, Lazio, Maribor (Slovenia)
Group K Bayer Leverkusen, Metalist Kharkov (Ukraine), Rosenborg, Rapid Vienna
Group L FC Twente (Holland), Hanover, Levante (Spain), Helsingborgs
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