“It can happen, nothing is impossible in this country, especially when you have power. But there are also the clubs with history, who have played as champions and fought for championships,” said Hiddink.

“They have the advantage of their history and the experience of being on top of everyone, if not every year then for a lot of them. This experience is very valuable for the big clubs. It’s not easy to come between those teams if they are well managed.

“If they continue as they have for the last few years it will be difficult to come in, but it’s always good to have more competition for the title.”

“It’s not always a matter of money to make a team. You have to be very careful about positions and the balance of your squad. It is not simply because of money that you have success as a team.”

Hiddink said all the above in his calm, methodical manner but that didn’t stop The Sun hysterically printing that our manager had “raged on” about City!  It really is sickening how our media are allowed to take such exaggerated liberties and just as worrying that we have so many plebeian masses who are prepared to believe what they print.

Anyway…

The Citizens could still make a European place – the minimum they will need if they are to attract recognised new talent in the summer.  

City fans, perhaps understandably, appear to be getting a bit fed up with the competition judging by the amount of empty seats at Maine…Eastlands (City of Manchester Stadium) during midweek.  The UEFA Cup has far too many matches and this was the third time they have faced a Danish side, this time beating Aalborg 2-0. 

Nevertheless, the UEFA Cup represents a real chance for City to win their first major trophy since 1976.

Caicedo and Shaun Wright-Phillips both scored, Robinho was impressive as we know he can be and Elano looked much more like the player who grabbed the attention of many when he first came to City 2 seasons ago.

With City having played on Thursday and ourselves on Tuesday we have had a bit more rest than they have although we didn’t get back until the early hours of Wednesday whilst City had played at home.