Wembley will host the Champions League final on Saturday, 25 May 2013 and City will be dreaming of following up their Premier League title triumph with a serious tilt at the prestigious competition.
The road to Wembley begins in the first week of July with the first of three qualifying rounds, followed by a play-off round before the draw for the group stages is made in Monaco on Thursday, 30 August.
One or two familiar names will be striving against the odds to make it to the promised land of the group stages. Welsh outfit The New Saints played the first competitive game in the City of Manchester Stadium in 2003 under their previous guise of Total Network Solutions in the UEFA Cup.
Red Bull Salzburg faced City in the Europa League two years ago, but this time around they have another crack at the elite competition thanks to their recent Austrian Bundesliga title triumph. Should they progress far enough and be drawn against City, we could see the return of Alan, the Red Bull striker who became a cult figure with City fans after his appearance against the Blues in 2010/11.
City’s pot placement will not be decided until all direct qualified teams are confirmed by UEFA in mid-June, but mcfc.co.uk will stay across all the possibilities and permutations as we get closer to the group stage draw.
