Manchester City were dumped out of Europe altogether on Tuesday night after going down to a 1-0 defeat to Borussia Dortmund in Germany.
With just three points to show from six games, City have not only become the first English side to not win a single game in the group stages, but have become the worst side in Champions League history.
As Total Football’s Simon Wright analyses, there are plenty of similarities between the Citizens and the former holders of the unwanted record, Blackburn Rovers.
Both saw off United
Both Blackburn and Manchester City saw off Manchester United on the final day of their domestic league campaigns in dramatic fashion.
Rovers conceded a last minute goal at Anfield to Jamie Redknapp, but the Red Devils failure to beat West Ham United ensured the Premier League title went to Ewood Park in 1995.
17 years later and Sir Alex Ferguson’s side ended the match at Sunderland as champions, until Sergio Aguero produced the most unbelievable finish to any title season, and snatched the crown from their noisy neighbours.
When both won the league, the neutral was happy. Most have grown sick of Manchester United’s dominance of the English game in the past 20 years.
Blackburn and Manchester City were different teams to win the Premier League, both ending lengthy title droughts in the process. 81 years had passed in Lancashire between Blackburn’s winning league sides of 1914 and 1995.
City’s wasn’t quite as long, but 44 years was still some wait for top honours.
Both entered into the following season’s Champions League with high hopes. Both ended their campaigns amidst plenty of turmoil and disappointment.
Moscow scuffle
In 1995-96, only 16 teams competed in the Champions League. The holders were Ajax and there were other dangerous sides such as Borussia Dortmund, Juventus, Real Madrid and French champions Nantes.
Blackburn were drawn into Group B, alongside Spartak Moscow, Legia Warsaw and Rosenborg. Realistically, it was a good draw for the Lancashire side and they should have had enough quality to progress into the quarter-finals.
Ray Hartford was manager after Kenny Dalglish had moved upstairs into a director of football position over the summer.
It was a team that lacked experience on the European stage but they had plenty of international experience.
Alan Shearer, Tim Flowers and Graeme Le Saux were all England internationals, Tim Sherwood was one of the best midfielders in England on his day, Colin Hendry was a strong figure in the central of defence and Henning Berg was a Norwegian international.
However, it would turn into a nightmare campaign for Blackburn – best remembered for a scuffle between two team-mates in Moscow.
Le Saux and David Batty started fighting moments into the start of a return match with Spartak and had to be separated by a stunned looking Sherwood and Berg.
Spartak won the game 3-0 and qualified with a 100 per cent record for the quarter-finals. Blackburn mustered just four points but did beat Rosenborg 4-1 in their final match – with a hat-trick from Mike Newell.
Underachieving in a tough group
Blackburn made a meal of a group that they should have got out of. Manchester City had a much tougher group but made too many sloppy errors.
Roberto Mancini’s side had experienced Champions League football last season but were knocked out in a group that contained Napoli and Bayern Munich.
This season, they were unfortunate to draw Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Ajax, but for the squad and talent they have, there is no doubt that they have underachieved.
It could have been so different had they held on to the 2-1 lead they had in Madrid on matchday one with five minutes to go.
Psychologically, they never seemed to recover from the late blow in the Bernabeu and have made a sorry exit.
They were outplayed both times by a very impressive Dortmund side and bizarre tactical decisions left them exposed against a young and talented Ajax team.
For them to go out without winning a game is really bad, both for themselves and for the Premier League’s reputation in the Champions League.
Inexperience was a factor in Blackburn’s poor performance in 1995. With the likes of Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero, David Silva and Carlos Tevez (pictured) at his disposal, Mancini can’t get away with the same excuse.
His side are the worst English side in Champions League history. That is now a fact and it won’t go down well with the Abu Dhabi owners.
By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88
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