Football
ESPN staff 6y

Man City 'have to be careful' vs. Basel - director Txiki Begiristain

Director of football Txiki Begiristain insisted Manchester City will "have to be careful" after being drawn against Basel in the Champions League round of 16.

It will be City's first meeting with the Swiss Champions, who managed to beat Manchester United 1-0 in the group stage last month.

City were installed as the bookmakers' favourite to win the competition after being drawn against the 500-1 outsiders and avoiding the likes of Real Madrid, Juventus and Bayern Munich, but Begiristain is taking no chances.

"We have to respect FC Basel and we have to be careful," he said. "We need to be ready to play them and do our best because obviously we want to go as far as we can in this competition

"We showed against Napoli that we can do well home or away. We had to fight to qualify and to win the group and I think we've shown the character and personality needed to do well in the Champions League."

City have exited in the round of 16 in three of the past four seasons, only advancing to the quarterfinals against Dynamo Kiev in 2016, and Basel sporting director Marco Streller was not daunted by the long odds.

"Manchester City are one of the best teams in Europe now, and a favourite for the title, but we're really looking forward to it," he said. "Us not having a chance is our opportunity."

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