Kompany on winning Champions League group: 'Anything but first place is the same for me'

Another Champions League campaign, another group featuring Manchester City and Bayern Munich.

For the third time in four seasons, City and Bayern have been drawn into the same group in Europe's most prestigious club competition, and Wednesday will see the clubs renew their rivalry at the Allianz Arena.

Last time around, Bayern topped their group with City finishing second, a result that allowed Pep Guardiola's team to meet Arsenal in the round of 16 while Manuel Pellegrini's side were forced to take on Barcelona and fell 4-1 on aggregate. 

City captain Vincent Kompany obviously understands the importance of topping their group this season, and he reiterated ahead of Wednesday's clash the need to earn a positive result in their first match of the tournament.

"We know how much damage it can cause your hopes if you don't win the group," Kompany said, via the Guardian. "We always face difficult teams if we are not seeded but we were very close last year."

Also in City and Bayern's group for a second successive season is CSKA Moscow, with a much-improved Roma side rounding out the four teams. Advancing from the group won't come easy for City, but Kompany isn't simply settling for progress; he wants to reach the competition's semifinals.

"I always say the same: 'There is always one winner,'" Kompany stated. "All the rest are losers. Anything but first place is the same for me. You start a season at Manchester City nowadays and it's not acceptable not to put all the trophies on your ambitions list.

"It's a case of me and all the players looking at all the trophies and thinking: 'We have to go until the very end of the season.' I mean the club is asking us to win now, so that's one thing. In which order you can't say. 

"We have won so far - in the last four years we have been successful but you always want to take it a step further. Let's take it in context: we are not favorites by any means for this competition but we would like to compete and challenge."