Original Puma football shirt Manchester City 2021/22

The club kicked off the season by losing the Community Shield to Leicester City and was later knocked out of the EFL Cup by West Ham United in the fourth round, ending their unbeaten streak in the competition that stretched to nearly five years. City also reached the FA Cup semi-finals for the fifth time in Guardiola's six season tenure, but were beaten by Liverpool, their third consecutive semi-final defeat. In Europe, the Blues were coming off their most successful Champions League campaign in history and looked to improve on last season's final defeat to Chelsea. City reached the semi-finals again, but were defeated there by Real Madrid 6–5 on aggregate a.e.t. over two closely fought and very dramatic games. On a brighter note, the Blues successfully retained the Premier League title for the second time in their history, also making it four titles in five seasons, in another closely fought title race with Liverpool. They won the league by a point on the final matchday by coming from two goals behind after 75 minutes against Aston Villa, to score three goals in five minutes.

The season was the club's first since 2010–11 not to feature City's all-time record goalscorer Sergio Agüero, who had left the club for Barcelona on a free transfer at the end of the previous season; he then went on to retire from football following cardiac health problems in November 2021. City were unable to immediately recruit a like for like replacement for Agüero, and this season was notable for Pep Guardiola's extensive use of a False 9 role. This proved to be no impediment to the Citizens scoring the most goals in all competitions (150) of any senior top-tier professional team in Europe.