Former Liverpool icon Jamie Carragher has claimed Manchester City ‘go a bit smaller’ in the Champions League due to a lack of self-belief stemming from an ‘inferiority complex’.
Pep Guardiola’s ever-impressive and most-feared side are all-conquering in England, having won four of the last five Premier League titles, but have yet to lay their hands on the top European prize despite possessing one of the most expensive and stellar squads that money can buy. Yet despite this being the case, Carragher insisted City’s ‘inferiority complex’ in the competition ahead of Monday’s draw for the knockout stages somehow makes them go a bit smaller.
He said: ‘They have that inferiority complex, don’t they, in the Champions League. They go a little bit smaller.’
Carragher was responding to former City defender and fellow pundit Micah Richards voicing concerns about potentially being drawn against French giants Paris Saint-Germain as Richards had said:
“You know what’s up with me? It’s now Kylian versus Man City in the last 16… I know what’s happening.
“Thierry Henry made a good point off air, saying ‘if you’re going to win this tournament, you’ve got to play everyone’. (But) playing PSG in the last 16 is not great.”
City, being one of the eight group winners, will be drawn against six of the eight runners-up: Club Brugge, Inter Milan, Eintracht Frankfurt, AC Milan, RB Leipzig and PSG.
Being also an English side, the Etihad squad cannot face Liverpool or Borussia Dortmund, who were in their group.