It wasn't supposed to be like this. Manchester City are used to spending the spring in the thick of the Champions League action, plotting their path to the final. They have made it to the showpiece twice in the last four seasons, finally lifting European football's holy grail in 2023 in Istanbul. After missing out Wembley last season after the narrowest of quarter-final eliminations to Real Madrid on penalties, the Cityzens had their eyes set on this year's final in Munich.
But now they are dangerously close to spending those exciting European nights not at a packed Etihad Stadium or in the continent's finest arenas, but in their living rooms, watching on television. After winning just two of their opening seven games in the first edition of the new-look league phase while losing three times - as many defeats as they've suffered across the previous three campaigns - Pep Guardiola's side find themselves 25th in the Champions League standings, on the outside looking in.
Wednesday's enthralling defeat at Paris Saint-Germain was the latest in a series of collapses for City in a logic-defying campaign and has left them needing to beat Club Brugge in their last game to sneak into the play-offs.
If they are unable to beat the Belgians, who have beaten Aston Villa, Sporting CP and drawn with Juventus so far, Guardiola will have no complaints, saying on Wednesday: "We have a last chance against Brugge and if we don't go through it's because we don't deserve it."
But who is to blame? GOAL examines how the modern Champions League experts have managed to make such a mess of their campaign...
