It certainly won’t be anyone in Group G as the holders will waltz through a section containing RB Leipzig, Young Boys and their opening opponents at the Etihad Stadium, Red Star Belgrade (AKA Crvena Zvezda).
City demolished Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals en route to last year’s final and the gap between the two clubs is still wider than Harry Kane’s move to Bavaria can bridge.
They then effortlessly brushed aside Real Madrid and Jude Bellingham’s switch to the Bernabeu doesn’t make up the difference there either.
Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal, last year’s finalists Inter Milan and Manchester United are also nowhere near as good Pep Guardiola’s top-drawer outfit.
The only team who can scupper City’s European dominance is City themselves.
Perhaps they won’t be up to scratch in the final or will be denied by bad luck or a controversial decision but there’s no way anyone is going to beat them over two legs in the knockout stages.
Erling Haaland can open the scoring against Red Star Belgrade
As for the opening fixture, well West Ham played very well and took the lead against a weakened City side at the London Stadium on Saturday but were still soundly beaten.
It was an off-day for Erling Haaland, who missed several sitters before finally scoring, but the Premier League champions still ran out comfortable 3-1 winners and that doesn’t bode well for Belgrade.
