Former Tottenham midfielder Jermaine Jenas has said that Manchester City appeared to be struggling in Europe because they did not start their Champions League run properly.

City have been one of the top teams in the Premier League by a comfortable margin. Despite having a squad full of experienced players like Yaya Touré, they have struggled to assert their superiority in the Champions League. They have failed to get past the last 16 stage and it is extremely surprising considering that the owners have spent more than £ 750 million just on players in the last five years.

Jenas, who is now a free agent after leaving Tottenham, says that City appear to be paying the price for not starting the campaign well a few years ago. He says that it is only a question of mentality rather than ability when it comes to the club’s poor performances in Europe. City will be knocked out of the European competition at the group stages once again if they do not get a victory in the remaining two matches. The first of the two will be against Bayern Munich at home. The German club are the overwhelming favourites to get three points despite this being an away match for Guardiola’s superstars.

“I think they might be building it up too much.Because they’ve failed a couple of seasons now on the spin, it’s not working for them, and they are just finding it hard to put in the top performances.I think one of the big ones was when they were away at CSKA.They had that game sown up, and it was just something silly.The penalty at the end that Kolarov conceded, that was just a daft moment, which in the Champions League you can’t afford,” said Jenas to the BBC.