Kompany happy to delay title win for Champions League progress

While the Premier League title is a short-term priority, Vincent Kompany said he would be happy to delay trophy celebrations in favour of salvaging Manchester City’s Champions League campaign.

Premier League champions-elect City can claim the title by beating neighbours Manchester United in Saturday’s derby at the Etihad Stadium.

The derby will offer City the chance to bounce back from their shock 3-0 loss to Liverpool in the opening leg of their blockbuster Champions League quarter-final tie.

It will be do-or-die for City in the Champions League against Liverpool at the Etihad next week and Kompany is willing to put the club’s domestic title celebrations on hold, given their 16-point lead atop the table.

“We’ve got one chance to do it in the Champions League. In the Premier League we’ve got plenty of opportunities to do the job,” said Kompany.

“We’ll make it [the Premier League] a priority now for the next three days. It’s never been like this. You play the league and usually go on holiday but this one feels completely different.

“Whatever happens on Saturday we will take the game extremely seriously, we know how important it [the Champions League] is for our fans but after that we will go back to this unfinished business we have got here.

“There’s not one single person at Manchester City who believes this game is over. Not one person. We have to live with the consequences of this result but that’s what makes football special.

“We had a very short period of time in this game where everything went wrong but the same can happen in the next game for the opposition.

“That’s what keeps us believing we can create chances.”