ADDING manager Pep Guardiola to a squad of players who had reached the semi-final of the Champions League the previous season was obviously done with one objective in mind. Manchester City have come a long way over the past decade under Middle Eastern ownership but European domination continues to elude them. Having recruited the most venerated and sought-after manager in the world in the summer it seems this might be the season when they finally take their place among the pantheon of modern greats, namely Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich.

Paul Lake is a regular City watcher having been a player at the club for a decade in the late 1980s and early 1990s before serious injury cruelly ended his career prematurely.

“It feels like a different planet, not just a different club,” he says of the seismic differences between the City of that era – a period that included a stint in the third tier of English football – and the global phenomenon it has become.

“The transformation over the years has been quite incredible. Not just in the playing staff but the expectation that exists now at Manchester City across the board from the academy right through to the first team. There is an expectation now not only to win but to also play entertaining football.

“Our team prep was on the Friday morning, and then you had your pre-match meal and a bit of a chat about the team you were playing against. But it was never to the level of detail that City go into today in terms of formation, strategy and the rest. It’s not just night and day, it’s light years away from what we used to know.”

City have won two league titles, an FA Cup and a League Cup since the Abu Dhabi Group started pouring money into the club in 2008 but it is Champions League glory that remains the ultimate target. There has been a hitch this season, however. Placed in a group with Barcelona, Celtic and Borussia Moenchengladbach, City have qualified for the knock-out phase but only in second place. That, in theory, should mean a tougher draw in the last 16 but these matters are all relative if you are styling yourself as one of the biggest clubs in the world.

“I don’t think finishing second weakens their chances,” said Lake, now working as a club support manager for the Premier League. “You look at all the groups and there are some excellent sides who have also finished second. Pep has great experience in the Champions League so alongside the players at City who reached the semi-finals last season they know exactly what it takes.”

If Tuesday’s game is a dead rubber, then it was a different story when City came to Glasgow for the first meeting between the sides in September. Celtic Park shook to its foundations as City’s run of 10 consecutive victories came to an end on the back of a mesmerising 3-3 draw. Lake thinks the noise and intensity took even some of City’s seasoned internationals by surprise.

“The game at Celtic Park seems to be a complete one-off in terms of the incredible atmosphere and the attitude that the Celtic players adopted,” he said. “To come up against that intensity would have shocked one or two City players and got them on the wrong foot. Even though Guardiola knows Celtic Park and that atmosphere, until you step across the white line as a player you won’t appreciate how to deal with it. So it came as a bit of a shock, especially with Celtic starting the game on the front foot.

“For a lot of the City players this season it’s been about maintaining discipline in the roles that Pep wants them to play within his system. But they also have to learn how to deal with opposition teams who press them in different ways to try to win the ball back. And so when you’re facing a manager in Brendan Rodgers you’ve got someone who knows the Premier League and Manchester City, and also knows how to play against European sides. He’s a very intelligent coach and that’s something else you have to take into the mix.

“I don’t think for a second that the team were underprepared for playing Celtic but Celtic on the night were excellent, had a great attitude and played some nice football. So I think those things combined with the terrific atmosphere you get at Celtic Park on European nights was a recipe for success for Celtic and another learning moment for some of the City players.”

Lake thinks Guardiola may take the opportunity to rotate his squad on Tuesday night and blood some of his rising stars.

“I think what he would like to do would be to give a game to one or two of the guys who have played in the EFL Cup this season,” he said. “So some of the younger players might be given an opportunity, someone like Kelechi Iheanacho who hasn’t played that much football recently. And others like Pablo Maffeo, Aleix Garcia and even Tosin Adarabioyo who’s a centre-back who played against Steaua Bucharest in the Champions League qualifying round. So there are players who are chomping at the bit to play and if the opportunity arises then Pep might give them that chance.”