"Pep Guardiola wants Manchester City to show immediate improvement in the Champions League to confound expectations of lifting a second European crown. City kick-start their 2025-26 campaign in Europe against Serie A champions Napoli on Thursday, with Kevin De Bruyne returning to the Etihad Stadium for the first time. Guardiola and City endured their first trophyless season in eight years in 2024-25 and have undergone a squad overhaul in the summer to try and compete for titles again."
""Apparently we are not [contenders]," Guardiola told reporters. "Just enjoy the moment, we are happy to be here after the path we have been [on] so we are just focusing on tomorrow and the game we have to play and starting well in this competition. We have more games than in previous seasons, but if you start with a bad result it can be difficult. Last season we drew the first game against Inter, and hopefully we can do better.""
Manchester City must show immediate improvement in the Champions League after a trophyless 2024-25 and a summer squad overhaul. City begin their 2025-26 European campaign against Serie A champions Napoli, with Kevin De Bruyne returning to the Etihad for the first time since his summer move. City struggled in last season's Champions League, finishing 22nd in the league phase, scraping through to the knockout play-off round, and exiting in the play-offs to Real Madrid after heavy defeats including Sporting CP and Juventus. Opta assigns City a 9% title probability, lower than Arsenal, Liverpool and PSG.
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