Knowing local rivals United would never aide their rise, City began with Arsenal and Chelsea. The following summer City spent £40million taking Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure from Arsenal. Pep Guardiola and Barcelona celebrate winning the 2009 Champions League [PHOTO: COURTESY]In the years that followed, City continued to drain Arsenal of key players. Samir Nasri, Gael Clichy and Bacary Sagna made the move while City also hoovered up star names from other domestic rivals. After the first of their three most recent Champions League wins, City set about trying to repeat the tactic that worked so well in England.

Source: Standard Digital October 19, 2016 10:07 UTC