All eyes on City at Etihad arena

posted on 14/09/2011: 59 views

The eyes of the UAE will be on Etihad Stadium Wednesday night as Manchester City make their de facto UEFA Champions League debut against Serie A's Napoli (at 23.45 Abu Dhabi time).

Not only will this be an historic occasion for Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, who has transformed the club since his September 2008 takeover — but the match also has local significance for Al Wasl coach Diego Maradona who will see his son-in-law, Sergio Aguero, take to the field against his old club from Naples.

Both Abu Dhabi and Dubai will hence have reason to cheer their adopted English Premier League outfit through to the knockout stages of the competition, a fate which can't be decided until six games into Group A of the tournament, where City must also outwit Bayern Munich and Villareal in both home and away ties.

City have featured in the pinnacle of European football before, albeit 43 years ago, in the 1968/69 European Cup as it was previously named. The citizens were ousted in the first round then by Fenerbache, but they went on to feature in the European Cup Winners Cup twice (one of which they won in 1970) and the Uefa Cup or Europa League, as it's been re-branded on eight occasions, since that first disappointing continental display.

Top honours

Comparatively, the blue-half of Manchester has had far fewer nights of football to cherish on the European mainland as their red counterparts at United, who have won top honours on three occasions since 1968. However, the more native-resident blues are finally emerging from beneath the imposing shadows of Old Trafford.

Having already gate-crashed the league's top four and lifted last season's FA Cup to end a 35-year wait for silverware, this season for many is a watershed moment in the long-awaited renaissance of the 131-year-old club.

In terms of the enormity of tonight's game in the club's history, the founder of Dubai's own Man City Supporters Club Mark Lynch said it was unequivocal: "I've been watching Man City since I was five years old, I'm 33 now. I've watched them in the second division after they suffered back-to-back relegation and all throughout the yo-yo years. It's been one extreme to the other in terms of quality and growth of stature."

"This is what we've all been dreaming of the Uefa Champions League. It doesn't get much bigger than this," said Lynch.

Before today, the club's golden era referred to the late 1960s and early Seventies when the club won the league championship, the FA Cup and the European Cup Winners Cup all under the guidance of Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison with players Colin Bell, Mike Summerbee and Francis Lee. But against Napoli, many on UAE shores too will be expecting to see the continuance, if not the re-beginning of true ‘Superbia in Proelia' - Pride in Battle. – Gulf News

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