Vincent Kompany: There's a HUGE gap between Manchester City and Europe's best teams

VINCENT KOMPANY admits Manchester City face a re-building job if they are to become as good as their Champions League conquerors Barcelona.

Reaction after Barcelona beat Manchester City

The City captain says there is a huge gulf in class between the reigning Premier League champions and the Catalan club who have knocked them out of Europe’s top club competition two seasons running - and it will take “time and work” to make up the ground.

City’s Abu Dhabi owner Sheikh Mansour has spent over £300m on players over the last four years in a bid to turn the club into a Champions League force.

But two group stage failures under former boss Roberto Mancini have been followed by two last 16 exits under Manuel Pellegrini and left City needing another squad shake-up this summer.

Pellegrini' s position is under threat when City's hierarchy conduct their end of season review into the season with Pep Guardiola, Frank De Boer and Ronald Koeman all on the radar as possible successors.

And the futures of players like Yaya Toure, Samir Nasri, Edin Dzeko, Stevan Jovetic and Aleksander Kolarov are all under serious scrutiny.

Frank Lampard will join new MLS franchise New York City, on-loan pair Micah Richards and Frank Sinclair will move on while Liverpool and Arsenal head a queue of clubs willing to offer a new challenge to James Milner, who has yet to agree a new contract.

City are already drawing up a summer hit list which could include Paul Pogba, Ross Barkley, Raheem Sterling, Nathaniel Clyne, Danny Ings and Wolfsburg's Kevin De Bruyne, who will be watched by City's sporting director Tkiki Begiristain in Europa League action tonight.

Vincent KompanyGETTY

Vincent Kompany struggled to cope with Suarez, Messi and Neymar

Ironically, Begiristain's position is also coming under scrutiny after sanctioning a 190m spend over the last two years on recruitments like striker Jovetic who has not proved a success and was cut from the Euro squad.

Kompany said: “The reality is they [Barcelona] were a better team. There is no shame in admitting that. For me there is a big, big difference. I will just mention Bayern Munich and Barcelona, and then there are the rest of the teams. Real Madrid are probably in between, I think. 

“It is the coordination and the tempo of their playing. Ultimately we have always said our goal is to become as good as them, but it will take some time. They are really good.

“I think only time can bring you closer. You have to look at what is Bayern Munich, what is Barcelona. They are not just Champions League-winning teams, they are World Cup-winning teams as well. They have generations that have played together a long time. 

“Of course we want to make up the gap but you just have to be true to yourself. If we want to close that gap it will take some work, and time. 

“If you want to win against those teams you need a very special performance and a little bit of luck on your side. Then you can beat them, of course. Every team can lose. There is no shame in saying it, you just have to keep going back and keep improving.

“There is no shame in saying - at least we have the ambition to be as good as they are one day, but it is not going to happen overnight. It is going to take some committed work to get there. 

“You can win the Premier League, beat the Arsenal's and Chelsea's and so on, and lose to them as well. But between any team and those teams I have mentioned there is still a huge gap. Every team has to win to close the gap. 

“The gap will eventually get closer, whether it is Arsenal, Chelsea, United, the gap will become closer and I just hope it is us that gets there the first.”

Manchester City v West Brom - Premier League Preview

One player whose future is rock solid is goalkeeper Joe Hart.

Kompany hailed the performance of the England No 1 who prevented Barcelona from running up a far bigger margin of victory in the Nou Camp with a string of fine saves while lamenting Sergio Aguero’s 77th minute penalty miss.

He added: “It (the penalty) would have been a great way to get back into the tie and it would have been interesting to see what the last 15 minutes would have been like back at 1-1.

“Joe’s performance was phenomenal. On that side of the pitch I felt we had all the luck we needed to get a result. It was probably just the penalty - if we had scored a goal it could have been a different game.”

City, who made early exits form the two domestic cup competitions, are set to finish the season trophy-less unless they can haul back a six-point deficit on Premier League leaders Chelsea.

Kompany has vowed that they will pick themselves up from their latest Champions League exit in a bid to end the season with a flourish.

“Forget about Chelsea,” he said. “We owe it to ourselves, to our fans to have a good end to this campaign. Then again if we finish this campaign as good as we can, maybe there is still something in it. We will have to see. It is not in our hands by any means, but we just have to go back and work hard and improve.”

Would you like to receive news notifications from Daily Express?