Manchester City beat Sevilla by three goals to one at the Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium in Spain

Manchester City Football Club have come a long way from what they were when our wealthy benefactors took us over in 2008. We are now one of the biggest teams in England, if not the biggest. We regularly fight for the most coveted trophy in our country and have the potential to draw the biggest stars in world football to the Etihad, which is now nothing less than a fortress.

Domestic success is something that we’ve grown used to over the last five years or so. We’ve won the Premier League twice while coming close on almost every other occasion. Cup success has also been something that we’ve experienced after we managed to get our hands on the FA Cup and the League Cup.

Raheem Sterling celebrates after opening the scoring by coolly slotting the ball past the opposition ‘keeper

We’ve been lucky enough to experience some really magical things in the last five years or so but the great thing about us humans is that we’re never satisfied. We’ve won Leagues and Cups and even Shields, but what has evaded us, for all these years, is European success. While we have taken part in every edition of the UEFA Champions League since 2011, we have never been past the Last 16 stage.

Our progress has been pretty slow and steady as our first two years in the Champions League saw us eliminated at the Group Stages. The next two years saw us go one step better as we made it to the Last 16 before being knocked out. If this trend continues, we should end up being Quarter-Final regulars for this season and the next. While this kind of improvement could have been satisfactory at some other clubs, we Cityzens cannot be satiated with this slow a rate of betterment.

Fernandinho celebrates after doubling City’s lead soon after Sterling got the proceedings under way

While it is hard to predict what may happen in the future, the events of the last few days have been enough to suggest that we fans may finally get what we were waiting for. Manchester City look to have finally turned the corner as far as Europe is concerned. After four group games, we are sitting on top of the pile after winning three games while slipping to defeat in one. No longer are we continental novices shying away from the challenge of lining up against Europe’s big boys.

The manner in which we went to Spain and put the current holders of the Europa League to the sword was simply superb. Sevilla are a massively talented team and this fact is proven when you see the kind of players they have in their ranks. Not only did we beat them, but we managed to beat them well. Our performances in Europe this season have been very convincing and there is every reason to believe that this year could be our year. I don’t want to end up sounding like a Liverpool fan, but it’s true. This season may very well be the season in which we become true continental contenders alongside some of the biggest clubs in the world. While there is of course no guarantees, I’d like to think that we Cityzens can believe in our boys to take us far in Europe.