Yaya Toure has told his Manchester City team-mates their Champions League lives are on the line tonight when they do battle with Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday night.
The Blues got their European campaign off to a bad start with a 3-2 defeat to Real Madrid at the Bernabeu two weeks ago. However, while the result didn’t go their way the performance suggested that Roberto Mancini’s men could go further than their group stage exit last season. For long periods of the match City looked composed and well worth the 2-1 lead they held until two last-gasp goals ruined their night.
Tonight’s opponents beat Ajax 1-0 in their opening match in what is easily identifiable as this year’s ‘Group of Death’.
And it’s because they know that no victory will come easily that Toure has warned his side defeat to Dortmund will deal a knee-high tackle to any hopes of Euro glory.
“I think it’s going to be a tough, massive game [tonight],” the midfield maestro said. “We’ll need to improve on our performance in Madrid and work really hard as Dortmund are a fantastic team. They all defend together and attack together.
“But we need a good result for our fans. We know we want to do it and we can do it. We’re already in a delicate position, but we’ve got our first game at home and we want to show the fans we can make up for the mistakes we made in Madrid and get a good result tomorrow.”
The match at the Etihad Stadium will pit Manchester City’s star-studded front, led by Toure and forward David Silva, against a Dortmund attack renowned for its speed that is coming off a 5-0 rout of Borussia Monchengladbach on Saturday.
And although Jurgen Klopp’s men trail arch-rivals Bayern Munich by seven points in the Bundesliga, that win has got the Germans believing they can get a result.
“The confidence is back,” Dortmund midfielder Jakub Blaszczykowski said.
“[Manchester City] has a really strong team. But we also have a lot of quality in our ranks.” Meanwhile, former champions Madrid and Ajax are meeting for the third straight season, with Madrid looking to extend its recent dominance over the Dutch team.
The Spanish champions go into the clash as hot favourites having eliminated Ajax from the group phase the last two seasons, winning all four meetings by an aggregate score of 12-0.
