The task set before Pep Guardiola to make Manchester City one of Europe's elite clubs is widely regarded as his biggest challenge to date. While it's wrong to suggest that Guardiola had it easy in making that transformation at previous clubs Barcelona and Bayern Munich, he did start from a much higher base.
They were already fairly close to that marker, while City scraped into fourth place in the Premier League on goal difference last season.
The club has made great strides since the takeover by Sheikh Mansour in 2008. In that first year, Mark Hughes spent Christmas in the relegation zone.