TURIN, ITALY - DECEMBER 11: Josep Guardiola, Head Coach of Manchester City looks on during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD6 match between Juventus and Manchester City at Juventus Stadium on December 11, 2024 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Emmanuele Ciancaglini/Ciancaphoto Studio/Getty Images)
TURIN, ITALY - DECEMBER 11: Josep Guardiola, Head Coach of Manchester City looks on during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD6 match between Juventus and Manchester City at Juventus Stadium on December 11, 2024 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Emmanuele Ciancaglini/Ciancaphoto Studio/Getty Images)
Manchester City's Champions League struggles have already cost them almost £6m in lost prizemoney - and the Blues could end up losing out on significantly more as they face a battle to reach the last-16.
City went more than two seasons unbeaten in Europe, the penalty shoot-out loss to Real Madrid last season their only 'defeat' since losing to the same opponent in 2022.
This season started well, too, with seven points from their first three fixtures of the new league phase. But one point from the next three has all-but ended their hopes of an automatic place in the last-16, with Pep Guardiola admitting City are in a battle to reach a play-off place let alone the top eight.
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City are only a point clear of the cut-off to reach the play-off round, although one win from their final two fixtures against PSG and Club Brugge should see them scrape through. If they don't manage that - which is far from guaranteed on current form - they could face a huge financial black hole.
A place in the last-16 gives clubs £9m, but but City almost certainly have to navigate a play-off to get there, which holds no guarantees of progression as some other big clubs are in similar positions.
City's two wins, two draws and two defeats has already been costly too. Each win in the league phase is worth £1.7m and a draw £576,000. From a maximum £10.38m so far, City have banked just £4.6m - a shortfall of around £5.7m. Liverpool, for example, have amassed the full £10.6m available so far with their 100 per cent record.
Add to that the risk of missing out on £9m in the last-16 and City's Champions League struggles could be costly indeed. There is also a performance-related bonus for teams depending on how high they finish - £226,500 for each place rising from the bottom of the league.
On that metric, if City finish in their current position of 22nd, they could expect to bank around £3.4m from the League Phase, while a final placing just five positions higher would secure just over an extra million. A top eight finish, now almost impossible to achieve, would be worth at least £6.5m.
The further City go in Europe, the more the prizemoney, as well as a larger share of the broadcast pot which is distributed depending on how many games a club plays in each edition of the Champions League. A quarter-final spot is worth £10m, a semi-final place £12m and reaching the final £15m.
City have earned millions with their runs to the latter stages of the Champions League in recent years. If they want to do the same this year, they are looking at four extra games which carry more revenue opportunities - but more risk of missing out on the lucrative knockout stages.
Guardiola regularly refers to qualification for the Champions League knockout stages as the first aim of the season for his CEO Ferran Soriano, and his own initial aims this term was to avoid the play-off round in order to get some much-needed rest in the schedule. So defeat at Juventus was not only a financial blow, but a workload one too.