Barcelona's Joan Laporta denies financial pressures behind Ilkay Gundogan's exit
Barcelona's president Joan Laporta has dismissed claims that Ilkay Gundogan's exit was driven by financial woes, expressing confidence in the club's financial recovery.
Manchester City are a Premier League club from Manchester, England. They play their home matches at the Etihad Stadium, which has a capacity of 55,097.
Manchester City are the fierce local rivals of Manchester United. Traditionally, United were the more successful of the two sides, but City had a spell of success in the 1960s and later became a consistent force in the Premier League following a takeover by Sheikh Mansour in 2008.
City have been crowned English champions in 1936/37, 1967/68, 2011/12, 2013/14, 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20, 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24. They are first club Premier League team to win four consecutive titles..
Manchester City FC were founded in 1899 and joined the Football League in 1904. Their initial heyday was in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when they won the European Cup Winners Cup (1969/70), FA Cup (1968/69) and League Cup (1969/70) as well as the 1967/68 league title.
The club endured a period of decline following the 1981 FA Cup final, which they lost to Tottenham Hotspur in a replay.
Manchester City were at their lowest in 1998, when they fell down to English soccer's third tier for the first time in their history.
City bounced between mid-table and relegation battles in the years that followed. There was excitement after former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra bought the club in June 2007 while in exile in London and appointed Sven-Goran Eriksson as manager, but he left after just 15 months in charge.
Manchester City were bought by Sheikh Mansour in 2008 and immediately signaled their intention to challenge Europe's elite by beating Chelsea to the signature of Brazil striker Robinho.
Several high-profile signings followed within the next three years, including Carlos Tevez, Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero, Roque Santa Cruz and David Silva.
The 2011/12 campaign saw City claim their first top flight title for 44 years. That title victory has gone down in history as one of the greatest in soccer history. Manchester City fought back from 2-1 down against Queen Park Rangers to win 3-2 in stoppage time, and pip Manchester United to the title in the final game of the season.
📆 ON THIS DAY: In 2012, Sergio Aguero scored THAT goals vs. QPR to hand Manchester City the Premier League title..
— Oddschanger (@Oddschanger) May 13, 2022
The most iconic PL moment in history! #MCFC
📹 @ManCitypic.twitter.com/d95HgOnf9x
In 2012/13, City lost their crown to Manchester United, who had been reinvigorated by beating their city rivals to the signature of Robin van Persie from Arsenal.
Mancini lost his job as a result, but this season was also the end of the Sir Alex Ferguson era at United. The end of the Scotsman's dynasty paved the way for a blue dawn in Manchester.
The 2014/15 season saw City beaten to the Premier League title by Chelsea and 2015/16 saw the Citizens finish behind Leicester City, Arsenal and Tottenham in a bizarre campaign. By the end of that season, it had already been announced that Guardiola would take over from Pellegrini ahead of the 2016/17 season.
Pep Guardiola endured a difficult start to his tenure as Manchester City manager, only managing third place in 2016/17 as his side finished behind Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.
Claudio Bravo struggled in goal and Guardiola was unable to match Antonio Conte's Chelsea, who played with three at the back and Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses as wingbacks.
The following season was a challenging one as City finished second to Liverpool in the Premier League and were banned from the UEFA Champions League for allegedly breaching Financial Fair Play rules. That ban was later overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
However, Manchester City continued to assert their dominance in the top flight by winning the 2020/21 and 2021/22 Premier League titles.
Second-placed Arsenal's loss to Nottingham Forest, on the penulitmate weekend of the season ensured City could not be beaten, and they sealed the achievement in style by defeating Chelsea 1-0 for their 12th consecutive league win.
Initially, Manchester City struggled to win the UEFA Champions League despite the best efforts of Guardiola to turn them into a European superpower.
In 2016/17, they were beaten in the last-16 by a Monaco side who stunned the world by reaching the semi-finals. The record-breaking 2017/18 City side were knocked out by Liverpool in the quarter-finals. In 2018/19, they were eliminated at the same stage by Tottenham Hotspur.
This meant that despite steamrolling most Premier League opponents en route to back-to-back domestic titles, City were knocked out by opposition from their own league on successive occasions.
The 2019/20 knockout stages started well with victory over Real Madrid, but City were shocked by Lyon in their one-legged quarter-final tie.
The 2021/22 Champions League campaign came to a dramatic end for Manchester City in the semi-finals. Real Madrid came from behind, in the dying moments of the tie, to secure a 3-1 second-leg win and 6-5 aggregate success.
Manchester United have a longstanding rivalry with their so-called 'noisy neighbours', but the rivalry turned up a notch following Carlos Tevez's move from United to City.
A famous Manchester derby during the 2009/10 season saw Michael Owen score the winning goal for United in a 4-3 victory. This was a match where it became clear that City were increasingly becoming a threat to United's dominance in Manchester and England alike.
In October 2011, Manchester City beat Manchester United 6-1. This game famously saw Mario Balotelli celebrate a goal by lifting up his shirt to reveal the message "Why always me?" after he had been in the headlines for reportedly having his house set on fire by a firework.
Rivalries with Chelsea and Liverpool developed while City fought against these teams for trophies.
In 2018/19, another Kompany goal played a key role in settling the title race. His fierce strike against Leicester City led to City beating Liverpool to the league trophy. City's 1-0 victory on May 6 ensured that they did not drop points in a closely-fought fixture which looked for much of the game like it could go either way. Ultimately, they beat Liverpool to the Premier League crown by one point.
Manchester City were worth £4.25billion in May 2022, making them the sixth most valuable football club in the world, according to Forbes.
Barcelona's president Joan Laporta has dismissed claims that Ilkay Gundogan's exit was driven by financial woes, expressing confidence in the club's financial recovery.
Phil Foden will most likely be absent from international duty with the England squad due to illness, according to Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola.
Erling Haaland scored another hat-trick as Manchester City maintained their perfect record this season and moved to the top of the charts after a 3-1 win over West Ham.
Pep Guardiola thinks Erling Haaland is ready to lead Man City's hunt for a fifth straight Premier League title, feeling Haaland is now in his best form yet.
Pep Guardiola has admitted Manchester City took a risk not replacing Julian Alvarez but insists he has plenty of attacking options.
Manchester City full-back Joao Cancelo has joined Saudi Pro League side Al Hilal on a permanent deal.
Manchester City have reportedly agreed terms with Saudi side Al Hilal to sell full-back Joao Cancelo.