In an interview with Portuguese publication O Jogo, Manchester City loanee Joao Cancelo was asked whether Bayern Munich were more likely to win the Champions League than his parent club, whom he left due to disagreements with Pep Guardiola during the winter. The fullback did not commit either way, explaining that the two clubs were about evenly matched.
His comments were captured in a Twitter thread by @iMiaSanMia:
“Of course, City is very familiar to me, because of the way they play, which suits my style of player,” said Cancelo. “Pep is impressive as a coach, he develops the players and makes them reach a very high level. I am very grateful to him for that.”
“I think they (City & Bayern) are on an equal footing to win the Champions League,” concluded the 27-year-old. “City is missing that step of winning the first title, it’s something they’ve been looking for a long time. But we must not forget that they have won a lot of titles in England.”
City stumbled in their first leg versus RB Leipzig earlier this week, coming away with a 1-1 draw at the Red Bull Arena. Pep’s side scored early and dominated the first half, but were unable to press home the advantage. After halftime, Leipzig roared back with a vengeance, matching City’s dominance and eventually getting the equalizer thanks to a header from defender Josko Gvardiol.
The 1-1 scoreline matches Leipzig’s draw with Bayern Munich from their meeting back in January, where the Bavarians also scored first but failed to capitalize on a good first half. So maybe Cancelo is right, and the two clubs are more similar than we thought. On the other hand, Bayern have the European pedigree that City can only dream of, and came away from the away game at Paris Saint-Germain with a 1-0 win. So even if the two teams are mostly equal, some things can’t be accounted for.