Update: |Arsenal vs Real Madrid shines light on £52million Man City truth News

Champions League football returns this week but Manchester City are on the outside looking in

Manchester City will be left counting the cost of an early Champions League exit as Europe’s elite competition returns with blockbuster quarter-final ties.

City were knocked out at the play-off stage, losing to Real Madrid, and the Spaniards take on Arsenal tonight in an appetising last-eight tie. Aston Villa take on PSG tomorrow while Bayern Munich against Inter Milan and Barcelona vs Borussia Dortmund complete a blockbuster set of matches.

It is the first time City have missed out on the Champions League quarter finals since 2017, when they were knocked out on away goals by a Monaco side featuring Kylian Mbappe and future Blue Bernardo Silva in the last 16.

While there is the obvious pain on the pitch at a meek European campaign where City struggled in the expanded group phase, limped into the knockouts, and were then dispatched by Mbappe again when outplayed over two legs by Real Madrid, – there is also a financial impact of not having European football.

It impacts gate receipts, with fewer home matches meaning less ticket revenue, and has a material £52.3million prizemoney cost. Exit at the hands of Madrid confirms City’s performance-related prize money for the season at £26.5m, including a guaranteed £15.5m for qualifying for the League Phase. Had they reached the last-16, they would have banked a further £9m.

And the increasing rewards for reaching the final would have unlocked up to £52.3m in prize money that City have now missed out on – plus up to £11m that would have been available for a better League Phase performance.

City will get a chance to increase their budget from the mysterious ‘Value Pillar’ worth a total £705m from the overall Champions League prize pot. The exact distribution is based on European and Worldwide broadcast markets, decided on club and country coefficients for performance over the last ten years.

Of that pillar, the minimum a club can receive is £1.05m, and the maximum is £38m. City will likely be relatively high in the coefficients for their recent performances and that of their Premier League colleagues – but their premature exit this term may impact it negatively, too.

Last season, City earned around £90m for their quarter-final exit, having earned around £85m for winning the competition the year before. In terms of matchday revenue, City have played the same number of home games as last season in the Champions League due to the extra League Phase fixtures and the knockout play-off round.

City’s final few weeks of the season will now focus on ensuring they return to the Champions League next season, while they also target glory in the FA Cup with a semi-final against Nottingham Forest on the horizon.

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