# 2015–16 Manchester City F.C. season

The 2015–16 season was Manchester City Football Club's 114th season of competitive football, 87th season in the top flight of English football and 19th season in the Premier League. Along with the league, the club also competed in the UEFA Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup. The season covered the period from 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2016.
In Manuel Pellegrini's final season at City, the club achieved some prominent milestones. On 28 February 2016, the Blues won the League Cup after beating Liverpool on penalties in the final at Wembley. Although City ended up only fourth in the league (which still qualified them for the following season's Champions League) despite a strong start, the season witnessed Manchester City's most successful European campaign to date, with the Blues defeating PSG 3–2 on aggregate to advance to the Champions League semi-finals for the first time in their history (they had never reached even the quarter-finals before). There, City were narrowly beaten by eventual champions Real Madrid 0–1 on aggregate.

## Kits

Supplier: Nike / Sponsor: Etihad Airways
| Home | Home alt. | Away | Third | Third alt. | Goalkeeper 1 | Goalkeeper 2 | Goalkeeper 3 |

### Kit information

The club entered the season being in the third year of a deal with the American manufacturer Nike.
* Home: The new home kit features the traditional colours of sky blue and white. The kit sees a return to white details, which were ditched last season in favour of navy applications. The shirt has a white polo neck collar and cuffs, along with a white stripe running from the bottom of the sleeves to the sides of the shirt. White shorts are returned to the kit, which is combined with sky blue socks with a white turnover.
* Away: The away kit is predominantly navy for the second season running, but this time the strip is combined with 'Chlorine Blue' detailing on the crew neck and the cuffs. The arms, however, feature a striking graphic of the Blue Moon, inspired by the song sung by the club's fans at the match days. The shirt is combined with navy shorts and socks.
* Third: The third kit is mainly a shade of chartreuse, known as 'ghost green', with black gradient graphic at the base of the sleeves and the bottom of the shorts. The yellowish green colour of the kit was inspired by the yellow and navy striped away kit worn by the club in the 1999 play-off final, when Manchester City overcame a two-goal deficit to take the game to extra time and eventually win on penalties. The kit is based on Nike's new premium template, which is also worn by other major clubs.
* Keeper: A new set of goalkeeper strips were released by Nike to be worn in the 2015–16 campaign. The first-choice strip is dark purple with lighter bluish line gradient on the arms, whilst the alternatives are yellow and green with a similar toned line gradient on the arms.

## Pre-season

Manchester City visited Australia during pre-season, where they played local clubs Adelaide United and Melbourne City before facing Roma and Real Madrid, runners-up in the Italian and Spanish leagues respectively, in the 2015 International Champions Cup tournament. They also played matches against Vietnam national team and German Bundesliga team VfB Stuttgart.

### 2015 International Champions Cup

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Final Result |
| 1 | Real Madrid | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 4 | 2015 ICC Australia |
| 2 | Roma | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | |
| 3 | Manchester City | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 6 | −3 | 2 | |

### Friendlies
## Competitions
### Overall

| Competition | Started round | Final position / round | First match | Last match |
| Premier League | — | 4th | 10 August 2015 | 15 May 2016 |
| FA Cup | Third round | Fifth round | 9 January 2016 | 21 February 2016 |
| League Cup | Third round | Winners | 22 September 2015 | 28 February 2016 |
| UEFA Champions League | Group stage | Semi-finals | 15 September 2015 | 4 May 2016 |
Source: Competitions

### Premier League
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 2 | Arsenal | 38 | 20 | 11 | 7 | 65 | 36 | +29 | 71 | Qualification for the Champions League group stage |
| 3 | Tottenham Hotspur | 38 | 19 | 13 | 6 | 69 | 35 | +34 | 70 | Qualification for the Champions League group stage |
| 4 | Manchester City | 38 | 19 | 9 | 10 | 71 | 41 | +30 | 66 | Qualification for the Champions League play-off round |
| 5 | Manchester United | 38 | 19 | 9 | 10 | 49 | 35 | +14 | 66 | Qualification for the Europa League group stage |
| 6 | Southampton | 38 | 18 | 9 | 11 | 59 | 41 | +18 | 63 | Qualification for the Europa League group stage |
* ↑ Manchester United qualified for the Europa League group stage by winning the 2015–16 FA Cup. As they had also qualified by their virtue of their league position (5th), this spot was passed to the next-highest ranked team (6th), Southampton.

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: 18 May 2016. Source: Premier League

#### Results by matchday

| Matchday | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 |
| Ground | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A |
| Result | W | W | W | W | W | L | L | W | W | D | W | D | L | W | L | W | L | W | D | W | D | W | D | W | L | L | L | W | D | L | W | W | W | D | W | L | D | D |
| Position | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 |

#### Matches

On 17 June 2015, the fixtures for the forthcoming season were announced.

### FA Cup

Win  Draw  Loss  Upcoming fixture

### UEFA Champions League
#### Group stage

The group stage draw was conducted on 27 August 2015 in Monaco, with City being paired with Juventus, Sevilla and Borussia Mönchengladbach.
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | MCI | JUV | SEV | BMG |
| 1 | Manchester City | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 8 | +4 | 12 | Advance to knockout phase | — | 1–2 | 2–1 | 4–2 |
| 2 | Juventus | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 11 | Advance to knockout phase | 1–0 | — | 2–0 | 0–0 |
| 3 | Sevilla | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 11 | −3 | 6 | Transfer to Europa League | 1–3 | 1–0 | — | 3–0 |
| 4 | Borussia Mönchengladbach | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 12 | −4 | 5 | | 1–2 | 1–1 | 4–2 | — |

#### Semi-finals
## Squad information
### First team squad

| N | Pos. | Name | Age | EU | Since | App | Goals | Ends | Transfer fee | Notes |
| 1 | GK | Joe Hart | 29 | EU | 2006 | 347 | 0 | 2019 | £100,000 | |
| 3 | RB | Bacary Sagna | 33 | EU | 2014 | 61 | 0 | 2017 | Free | |
| 4 | CB | Vincent Kompany | 30 | EU | 2008 | 298 | 14 | 2019 | £6M | Captain |
| 5 | RB | Pablo Zabaleta | 31 | EU | 2008 | 301 | 10 | 2017 | £6M | |
| 6 | DM | Fernando | 28 | EU | 2014 | 75 | 4 | 2019 | £12M | |
| 7 | RW | Raheem Sterling | 21 | EU | 2015 | 47 | 11 | 2020 | £49M | |
| 8 | AM | Samir Nasri | 29 | EU | 2011 | 176 | 27 | 2019 | £25M | |
| 10 | FW | Sergio Agüero | 28 | EU | 2011 | 208 | 136 | 2019 | £35M | |
| 11 | LB | Aleksandar Kolarov | 30 | Non-EU | 2010 | 206 | 20 | 2018 | £16M | |
| 13 | GK | Willy Caballero | 34 | EU | 2014 | 21 | 0 | 2017 | £4.4M | |
| 14 | FW | Wilfried Bony | 27 | Non-EU | 2015 (Winter) | 46 | 10 | 2019 | £30M | |
| 15 | RW | Jesús Navas | 30 | EU | 2013 | 147 | 8 | 2017 | £14.9M | |
| 17 | AM | Kevin De Bruyne | 25 | EU | 2015 | 41 | 16 | 2021 | £54.5M | |
| 18 | CM | Fabian Delph | 26 | EU | 2015 | 27 | 2 | 2020 | £8M | |
| 20 | CB | Eliaquim Mangala | 25 | EU | 2014 | 63 | 0 | 2019 | £32M | |
| 21 | AM | David Silva | 30 | EU | 2010 | 260 | 43 | 2019 | £24M | |
| 22 | LB | Gaël Clichy | 30 | EU | 2011 | 164 | 1 | 2017 | £7M | |
| 25 | CM | Fernandinho | 31 | Non-EU | 2013 | 139 | 14 | 2017 | £30M | |
| 26 | CB | Martín Demichelis | 35 | EU | 2013 | 106 | 4 | 2016 | £4M | |
| 27 | MF | Patrick Roberts | 19 | EU | 2015 | 3 | 0 | 2020 | £2M | On loan at Celtic |
| 28 | DF | Jason Denayer | 21 | EU | 2014 | 0 | 0 | 2020 | £193,000 | Academy Graduate On loan at Galatasaray |
| 29 | GK | Richard Wright | 38 | EU | 2012 | 0 | 0 | 2016 | Free | |
| 30 | DF | Nicolás Otamendi | 28 | EU | 2015 | 49 | 1 | 2020 | £33M | |
| 36 | CM | Bruno Zuculini | 23 | EU | 2014 | 1 | 0 | N/A | £1.5M | On loan at AEK Athens |
| 42 | CM | Yaya Touré | 33 | Non-EU | 2010 | 267 | 76 | 2017 | £24M | |
| 72 | FW | Kelechi Iheanacho | 19 | Non-EU | 2015 | 35 | 14 | 2019 | £360,000 | Academy Graduate |
Updated to match played 15 May 2016 Source: mcfc.co.uk
Ordered by squad number. Appearances include all competitive league and cup appearances, including as substitute.

### Playing statistics

    As of 15 May 2016
Appearances (Apps) numbers are for appearances in competitive games only, including as substitute. Red card numbers denote: numbers in parentheses represent red cards overturned for wrongful dismissal.
| No. | Nat. | Player | Pos. | Premier League | Premier League | Premier League | Premier League | FA Cup | FA Cup | FA Cup | FA Cup | League Cup | League Cup | League Cup | League Cup | Champions League | Champions League | Champions League | Champions League | Total | Total | Total | Total |
| No. | Nat. | Player | Pos. | Apps | | | | Apps | | | | Apps | | | | Apps | | | | Apps | | | |
| 1 | | Joe Hart | GK | 35 | | | | | | | | | | | | 12 | | | | 47 | | | |
| 3 | | Bacary Sagna | DF | 28 | | 4 | | 1 | | | | 5 | | | | 11 | | 1 | | 45 | | 5 | |
| 4 | | Vincent Kompany | DF | 14 | 2 | 5 | | | | | | 1 | | 1 | | 7 | | | | 22 | 2 | 6 | |
| 5 | | Pablo Zabaleta | DF | 13 | | 3 | | 3 | | 1 | | 3 | | | | 3 | | | | 22 | | 4 | |
| 6 | | Fernando | MF | 24 | 2 | 4 | | 3 | | | | 5 | | 1 | | 10 | | 2 | | 42 | 2 | 7 | |
| 7 | | Raheem Sterling | MF | 31 | 6 | 1 | | 2 | 1 | 1 | | 4 | 1 | | | 10 | 3 | | | 47 | 11 | 2 | |
| 8 | | Samir Nasri | MF | 12 | 2 | 3 | | | | | | | | | | 1 | | | | 13 | 2 | 3 | |
| 10 | | Sergio Agüero | FW | 30 | 24 | 1 | | 1 | 1 | | | 4 | 2 | | | 9 | 2 | | | 44 | 29 | 1 | |
| 11 | | Aleksandar Kolarov | DF | 29 | 3 | 3 | | 2 | | | | 2 | | 1 | | 6 | | | | 39 | 3 | 4 | |
| 13 | | Willy Caballero | GK | 4 | | | | 3 | | | | 6 | | | | 1 | | | | 14 | | | |
| 14 | | Wilfried Bony | FW | 26 | 4 | 1 | | | | | | 3 | 2 | | | 5 | 2 | 1 | | 34 | 8 | 2 | |
| 15 | | Jesús Navas | MF | 34 | | 1 | | 2 | | | | 6 | 1 | | | 10 | | 2 | | 52 | 1 | 3 | |
| 17 | | Kevin De Bruyne | MF | 25 | 7 | 2 | | 1 | 1 | | | 5 | 5 | | | 10 | 3 | 1 | | 41 | 16 | 3 | |
| 18 | | Fabian Delph | MF | 17 | 2 | | | 2 | | | | 3 | | 1 | | 5 | | | | 27 | 2 | 1 | |
| 20 | | Eliaquim Mangala | DF | 23 | | 8 | | | | | | 3 | | 1 | | 7 | | 1 | | 33 | | 10 | |
| 21 | | David Silva | MF | 24 | 2 | 1 | | | | | | 4 | | | | 8 | 2 | 1 | | 36 | 4 | 2 | |
| 22 | | Gaël Clichy | DF | 14 | | | | 2 | | | | 4 | | | | 8 | | 1 | | 28 | | 1 | |
| 25 | | Fernandinho | MF | 33 | 2 | 8 | | 1 | | | | 5 | 2 | 1 | | 11 | 2 | 2 | | 50 | 6 | 11 | |
| 26 | | Martín Demichelis | DF | 20 | | 3 | | 2 | | 1 | | 5 | | 1 | | 4 | 1 | | | 31 | 1 | 5 | |
| 27 | | Patrick Roberts | MF | 1 | | | | | | | | 2 | | | | | | | | 3 | | | |
| 30 | | Nicolás Otamendi | DF | 30 | 1 | 9 | | 2 | | | | 5 | | 2 | | 12 | | 3 | | 49 | 1 | 14 | |
| 42 | | Yaya Touré | MF | 32 | 6 | 3 | | | | | | 5 | 1 | 1 | | 10 | 1 | | | 47 | 8 | 4 | |
| 51 | | David Faupala | FW | | | | | 1 | 1 | | | | | | | | | | | 1 | 1 | | |
| 53 | | Tosin Adarabioyo | DF | | | | | 1 | | | | | | | | | | | | 1 | | | |
| 59 | | Bersant Celina | MF | 1 | | | | 3 | | | | | | | | | | | | 4 | | | |
| 62 | | Brandon Barker | MF | | | | | 1 | | | | | | | | | | | | 1 | | | |
| 69 | | Angeliño | DF | | | | | 1 | | | | | | | | | | | | 1 | | | |
| 70 | | George Evans | MF | | | | | | | | | 1 | | | | | | | | 1 | | | |
| 72 | | Kelechi Iheanacho | FW | 26 | 8 | 1 | | 3 | 4 | | | 2 | 2 | | | 4 | | | | 35 | 14 | 1 | |
| 75 | | Aleix García | MF | | | | | 1 | | | | | | | | | | | | 1 | | | |
| 76 | | Manu García | MF | 1 | | | | 1 | | | | 2 | 1 | | | | | | | 4 | 1 | | |
| 77 | | Cameron Humphreys | DF | | | | | 2 | | | | | | | | | | | | 2 | | | |
| Own goals | Own goals | Own goals | Own goals | | 0 | | | | 0 | | | | 1 | | | | 2 | | | | 3 | | |
| Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | 71 | 61 | 0 | | 8 | 3 | 0 | | 18 | 10 | 0 | | 18 | 15 | 0 | | 115 | 89 | 0 |
Source: for players, positions and squad numbers: first team squad; for actual stats: squad profiles.

### Goalscorers

Includes all competitive matches. The list is sorted alphabetically by surname when total goals are equal.
    Correct as of 15 May 2016
| No. | Nat. | Player | Pos. | Premier League | FA Cup | League Cup | Champions League | TOTAL |
| 10 | | Sergio Agüero | FW | 24 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 29 |
| 17 | | Kevin De Bruyne | MF | 7 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 16 |
| 72 | | Kelechi Iheanacho | FW | 8 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 14 |
| 7 | | Raheem Sterling | MF | 6 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 11 |
| 14 | | Wilfried Bony | FW | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| 42 | | Yaya Touré | MF | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| 25 | | Fernandinho | MF | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| 21 | | David Silva | MF | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 11 | | Aleksandar Kolarov | DF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 4 | | Vincent Kompany | DF | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 18 | | Fabian Delph | MF | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 8 | | Samir Nasri | MF | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 6 | | Fernando | MF | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 26 | | Martín Demichelis | DF | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 76 | | Manu García | MF | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 30 | | Nicolás Otamendi | DF | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 15 | | Jesús Navas | MF | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 51 | | David Faupala | FW | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Own goals | Own goals | Own goals | Own goals | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | 71 | 8 | 18 | 18 | 115 |

### Clean sheets

Includes all competitive matches. The list is sorted alphabetically by surname when total clean sheets are equal.
    Correct as of 15 May 2016
| No. | Nat. | Player | Matches Played | Clean Sheet % | Premier League | PL % | FA Cup | FA % | League Cup | LA % | Champions League | % |
| 1 | | Joe Hart | 29 | 38% | 23 | 48% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 6 | 0% |
| 13 | | Willy Caballero | 11 | 22% | 2 | 0% | 3 | 100% | 6 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| 29 | | Richard Wright | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| Totals | Totals | Totals | 38 | 34% | 25 | 44% | 2 | 100% | 5 | 0% | 6 | 0% |

## Awards
### Premier League Manager of the Month award

Awarded monthly to the manager who was chosen by a panel assembled by the Premier League's sponsor.
| Month | Manager |
| August | Manuel Pellegrini |

### Premier League Player of the Month award

Awarded monthly to the player who was chosen by a panel assembled by the Premier League's sponsor.
| Month | Player |
| January | Sergio Agüero |
| April | Sergio Agüero |

### Etihad Player of the Month awards

Awarded to the player that receives the most votes in a poll conducted each month on the official website of Manchester City.
| Month | Player |
| August | David Silva |
| September | Kevin De Bruyne |
| October | Kevin De Bruyne |
| November | Fernandinho |
| December | Kevin De Bruyne |
| January | Sergio Agüero |
| February | Vincent Kompany |
| March | Gaël Clichy |
| April | Kevin De Bruyne |

## Transfers and loans
### Transfers in

Total spending: £150,000,000

### Transfers out

Total earnings: £47,900,000