Man City defender

Manuel Akanji insists that Manchester City has nothing to fear from Real Madrid or Bayern Munich.

City will face one of those two heavy European pesos in the Champions League next month after scraping the play-off round on Wednesday.

The 2023 winners had been in danger of eliminating after being left behind in their phase match of the final league that must win against Club Brugge at the Etihad stadium, but joined to win 3-1.

The defeat would have seen City lost the qualifying stages for the first time since 2012-13, but, after cutting in the 22nd position, Akanji feels that they can now wait with confidence.

The Swiss defender said: 'We are definitely ready. Obviously, they are not the teams you want to face, but whoever is waiting for the challenge and I think we can overcome all the teams in Europe.

'Although we did not play as well as we used to do it, I think no team wants to face ourselves. I don't know what is happening in your heads, but whoever comes, we are ready for the challenge.

Manchester City defender, Manuel Akanji, is confident that citizens can progress to the Champions League last 16

Ciudad could receive a nightmare draw against the defenders of Real Madrid, who eliminated them from the competition last season

The Bayern Munich is the other side that the city could meet in the play-off round. The draw for the next stage takes place on Friday

City entered the game knowing that only victory would be enough to prolong its last European campaign.

After having started competition as one of the favorites, City had found himself in this situation after a calamitous sequence of results and performances, including the defeats of Lisbon, Juventus and Paris St Germain and a draw with Feyenoord.

The recession seemed to continue while admitting Raphael Onyedika, but City responded after the break through Mateo Kovacic, a goal by Joel Ordonez and the substitute for changing the Savinho game.

Akanji said: 'We are happy to have reached the play-offs. Obviously, we wish to have been able to reach the first eight, but we couldn't change that anymore.

'All we had to do was win. It was not easy, but we did. It was not the way we wanted it to be, but here we are now and I am still sure that we can overcome whoever comes next.

Until now it has been a disappointing season for City, which has also fallen from the rhythm in its search for a fifth consecutive title of the Premier League.

Now they move to a hard February with games against Arsenal, Newcastle, Liverpool and Tottenham, as well as their double heading against Real or Bayern. They will learn to their European opponents on Friday.

“Good results always make mood better than when you lose,” Akanji said.

I hope we can keep it. This is what we have to do now: go to Match by Match, Game By Game. We have the arsenal below. It is an important game, far, it will not be easy. We have to recover well and be ready for the challenge.