'No team wants to face us'
Manuel Akanji is confident Manchester City "can beat every team in Europe" after progressing to the Champions League play-off spots.City will find out on Friday whether their next opponent will be either Bayern Munich or Real Madrid."I'm happy that we made it to the play-offs," Akanji said. "Obviously, we wish we would have made it to the top eight but we couldn't change it anymore. All we had to do was win."Obviously Real Madrid and Bayern Munich aren't the teams you want to face but, whoever it is, we are looking forward to the challenge and I think we can beat every team in Europe."Whoever comes, we are ready for the challenge. Even though we didn't play as good as we used to do, I think no team wants to face us."We have Arsenal next and have to recover really well now. It's an important game, away - it won't be easy. We have to be ready for the challenge."
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On that basis, it would take Auckland's best-paid player about 117 years to earn Kane's weekly squad is valued at 4.58m euros (around £3.9m) by Transfermarkt, while Bayern's is valued at 903.5m euros (around £769m).Oceania's sole representatives at the tournament, Auckland are getting £2.6m in prize money for taking part, while European clubs – including Bayern – stand to earn between £9.9m and £ are currently ranked sixth in Opta's Power Rankings – a global team ranking system – but Auckland are down in 5,074th, over 2,500 places below English National League side York next lowest-ranked team in the Club World Cup are UAE outfit Al Ain, who sit Bayern boast some of the biggest names in world football, Auckland's team includes a primary school teacher, an insurance broker, a barber, a sales representative at Coca-Cola, a car retailer, and several Auckland left-back Nathan Lobo, 22, will have to sit a university exam from his hotel room during the competition. Dream or embarrassing? New format faces scrutiny Fifa's decision to expand the Club World Cup from seven to 32 teams this summer has already sparked legal complaints from players' union Fifpro and the World Leagues the gulf in class between Bayern and Auckland on Sunday is likely to raise further questions about the new format of the of the Oceania Champions League in each of the past four years, Auckland have made it to the tournament on that merit. Indeed, the New Zealanders are appearing in the competition for the 12th time – more than any other whether they should be in the same group as a club of Bayern's stature is another last year's Fifa Intercontinental Cup, which comprised six teams and effectively replaced the Club World Cup in 2024, Auckland were thumped 6-2 by Al Ain in a preliminary in the final seven-team Club World Cup in 2023, they lost 3-0 to Saudi club Al-Ittihad in the opening game."These games are so special for Auckland City," said former England midfielder Anita Asante, who was co-commentating on the game for Channel 5. "These guys are heroes to lots of budding football stars in New Zealand."Fans following BBC Sport's live text coverage of the game were less enamoured by Sunday's mismatch:Sean: Watching Bayern tear apart a bunch of part-timers is just not it and the sooner FIFA realise it, the better. This isn't entertainment at all, let's not kid ourselves I know Bayern didn't choose who they play, but I do feel perhaps putting out this 11 was perhaps not the most sporting thing to do. This match makes uncomfortable But for anyone connected with Auckland City, this is one the best days of their footballing Isn't that what a pre-season friendly is for, not a competition with a prize of £100m for the winners?Was there any sympathy for the New Zealanders from their opponents?Asked after the final whistle whether he felt for Auckland, Michael Olise simply replied: "No." So how did Auckland qualify? The only OFC team competing in the Club World Cup, Auckland qualified for the Club World Cup as the best OFC Champions League winners over the ranking period between 2021 and have dominated their continental competition in recent years, winning it 13 times since won four and drew one of their five games in the most recent edition of the tournament, scoring 13 goals and conceding just on Sunday's defeat, Auckland's interim coach Ivan Vicelich said: "This [result] is the reality of football against one of the world's top teams."It's a dream for players coming from an amateur level to play in this environment. We knew it was going to be a very difficult game, playing against one of the top teams in the world – potentially one of the favourites – so we're just really proud of the players' efforts."Bayern boss Vincent Kompany added: "We have to remain modest, but it was important to be able to say that we took the game seriously."It was a good first match at the tournament, but of course challengers are going to grow and it's going to become more difficult."The Bundesliga champions take on Argentine giants Boca Juniors in their next Group C encounter on Friday local in Miami (Saturday 02:00 BST)."A traditional game from Europe against a traditional team from South America – even if I weren't Bayern coach, I'd have attended this game," said Kompany. "It will be special."
