‘Man City not there yet’

Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany accepts the club still remain a long way short of fulfilling their European dreams. The gap between City and the continent's best clubs was starkly illustrated last Wednesday when Barcelona dumped the English champions out of the UEFA Champions League with a commanding performance at Camp Nou.

Thanks to the brilliance of Joe Hart, City at least kept the scoreline respectable — losing 1-0 for a 3-1 aggregate defeat — but they were distinctly second best to a Barça side inspired by the magnificent Lionel Messi. City may have made considerable progress in the seven years since their Abu Dhabi takeover, but the journey still has a long way to go.

"The reality is they were a better team, there is no shame in admitting that. For me, there is a big, big difference. I will just mention Bayern Munich and Barcelona, and then there are the rest of the teams, with Real Madrid probably in between,” Kompany said.