Sevilla coach Unai Emery has stressed that the Premier League's richest teams do not always succeed in Europe ahead of Wednesday's Champions League group game at Manchester City.
City have won two Premier League titles in recent seasons, helped by huge financial backing from their Abu Dhabi owners allowing them to sign some of the world's best players, but the club have yet to make it past the round of 16 in the Champions League.
The English sides made a disappointing start to the competition, with City losing their opening game at home to Juventus, Manchester United being beaten by PSV Eindhoven, Chelsea losing at Porto in their second match, and Arsenal embarrassed by both Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiakos.
Sevilla, by contrast, have had to sell many of their best players through recent seasons, but have won the last two Europa League trophies, while La Liga rivals Barcelona and Real Madrid have won the last two Champions League finals.
Emery told his prematch news conference that City had the potential to win any competition but had not quite matched the achievements of Spain's finest yet.
"City are a top team," Emery said. "The media and financial dimension of the Premier League is the best, but the Spanish league has had better results.
"City are among those teams who are capable of being at the very top -- the best players in the world are at about six teams, and City are one of them. To be the best is the path they want to take."
Both City and Sevilla have lost to leaders Juventus and beaten the group's other side, Bayer Leverkusen, during the first two rounds of games.
But while City currently top the Premier League table after hammering Bournemouth 5-1 on Saturday, Sevilla's poor domestic start continued with a 1-1 draw at Eibar last weekend that leaves them 13th in the table.
Even so, Emery said that he may be happy with a point by the time the full-time whistle goes at the Etihad Stadium but his intention before kick off was to go for a victory.
"We analyse it from game to game, competition to competition," he said. "I see the team evolving. I hope that they keep getting better.
"We are looking at this game on its own, because it is a top level European match and we want to compete in it and be protagonists. This is the competition we want to experience, this level of intensity.
"There could come a moment when we'd take a draw, but our aim is to win the game."
Emery said the absence of injured stars such as Sergio Aguero and David Silva had not figured too much in his prematch preparations.
"We look at the XI that City will have," he said. "We did not worry about those who will not be there, on our part, or theirs. City are a great team with tremendous individuals."
Emery was earlier in the day named on the 10-man shortlist for FIFA's World Coach of the Year award, alongside the likes of Luis Enrique, Carlo Ancelotti, Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho.
"It is recognition for everyone," he said. "I believe Sevilla's legs today are made up of the fans, the directors and the coaches. And also the journalists. I believe it is beneficial for everyone -- a satisfaction. To be there with the best is recognition. To win it would be more difficult."