Mancini urges City to escape from an eternal cycle of death groups

Vincent Kompany, Manchester City's captain, believes he is in 'top form' (Getty Images)

Roberto Mancini admitted last night that Manchester City will be locked into an eternal cycle of Champions League "groups of death" unless they can begin transferring their domestic form to Europe.

A total of 57 shots have rained in on City's goal in this season's competition so far, more than any other club across the eight groups.

The club have also mustered only one point from their unconvincing first two games, exactly the same tally after the opening matches of last year's unsuccessful group stage.

Tonight has another make-or-break quality about it. Mancini would not even contemplate the notion that defeat against Ajax would bring this campaign to a close.

"We can't think about games this way. We have to win and then talk," he said. But he smiled winsomely when it was put to him that City faced a third successive campaign up against Europe's toughest sides if they could not break through to the high ground of the knockout stage. "We want to play for a better seeding," Mancini said. "We must take our chance."

It was perhaps encouraging that his players wanted to take in how it felt to be at a club with a rich European history yesterday. The manager dispensed with the recent practice of training at Carrington to meet their requests to view an Amsterdam Arena stadium with interior walls adorned with images of legends.

The City captain Vincent Kompany was touchy about the error which allowed Shane Long to score against City for West Bromwich Albion on Saturday. "My fitness is great, I'm in top form," he said. "I am just looking forward to the many games that are coming. I can only say I have a long career ahead of me, anyone who says it won't happen again would be lying." If City cannot progress through these back-to-back ties with the Dutch, who are yet to record a point, then they do not deserve to progress in the tournament of European champions.

Frank de Boer, the Ajax manager, was proud to say that Mancini's four strikers "cost more than the annual turnover here", though his reliance on youth is not all a bed of roses.

De Boer was so infuriated by their sacrifice of a two-goal lead in the 3-3 draw with Heracles Almelo at the weekend that he accused the players of lacking the same ability to "punch dressing room walls" that he possessed as a player. His striker Ryan Babel observed wryly yesterday that the walls "must have been softer back then".