Roberto Mancini, former manager of Manchester City, believes the current fortunes of the club began during his tenure.
Mancini led City to their first Premier League title in 2011-12 on the final day of the season.
"I think that we started to build this team five years ago. In two years we won the Premier League, the FA Cup, we won everything in England," Mancini told reporters.
"And this current team are playing nine of my players all of the time. I am very happy with that because I know these players. I think it's not easy to build a strong team with only four or five years.
"They are a team like Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Barcelona - big teams that have been like that for 50 years. You need the time to improve. But we have a big chance also to be one of the best teams in Europe."