Sevilla 1-3 City, 3 November
Two goals in the opening 11 minutes set the tone for a scintillating display that secured our place in the last 16 of the Champions League.
Sevilla are no slouches when it comes to European football, as Liverpool found to their cost this week, but the Blues, in ghost green, blew them away with arguably the performance of the season.
City 4-2 Borussia Moncheongladbach, 8 December
“First half not so good, second half good”, to paraphrase Sven-Goran Eriksson. This one gets in for sheer drama – yes, Champions League qualification was secure but this win gave us top place in Group D and with it a chance of a favourable draw for the last 16.
Behind at the break, City had hope thanks to Raheem Sterling’s equaliser and Juventus falling behind at Sevilla. Sterling struck again to make it 3-2 and Wilfried Bony capped an exhilarating comeback with five minutes left.
City 1-1 Liverpool (City win 3-1 on penalties), 28 February
This was a slow burner that got better the longer it went on, ending in dramatic circumstances with an unlikely hero stepping out if the shadows.
Kudos to Manuel Pellegrini for keeping his word and picking Willy Caballero for the final, and the Argentine repaid his manager’s faith when it mattered. Saves from Lucas, Philippe Coutinho and Adam Lallana in the shoot-out sealed the silverware and gave Willy his place in club folklore.
City 1-0 Paris St-Germain 12 April
A gutsy 2-2 in the French capital had handed the advantage in the Champions League quarter-final to City, but a last four place was sealed by a gripping win on home soil.
Kevin De Bruyne’s winner was one of the goals of the season and gave the Blues a thoroughly deserved place at Europe’s top table for the first time.
Chelsea 0-3 City, 16 April
That enthralling win seemed to spur the Blues on, who ripped soon-to-be-ex-champions Chelsea apart in their own backyard.
Sergio Aguero’s hat-trick took the headlines but with Samir Nasri and Kevn De Bruyne also in sublime form, it was a Saturday evening to remember for Manuel Pellegrini’s gung-ho ghost green line-up.
