Manchester City play their fourth game of the UEFA Champions League group stage on Tuesday in Denmark against FC Copenhagen. In the reverse fixture last week, Man City run riot and came away with a 5-0 win at home. Over the weekend, they went on yet another demolition exercise, beating Southampton 4-0 at home. The imperial form of Pep Guardiola’s charges has propelled them to the top of their group with maximum 9 points. A win on Tuesday all but confirms their position in the round of 16 in Europe’s largest club competition.
Team News
Akinkunmi Amoo and Zeca will still be out for Copenhagen, but their league game on the weekend didn’t bring up any new worries.
Guardiola’s side will be missing long-term absentees Kalvin Phillips (shoulder), John Stones (hamstring), and Kyle Walker (groin). There are presently no further injury concerns to address.
Match Expectations
Copenhagen’s captain, Viktor Claesson, said that stopping Manchester City and Erling Haaland was the hardest thing in football, and it won’t get any easier if City decides to switch players on Tuesday night.
“They are the best team in the world – the best I have met by far,” said Claesson, who stepped in as captain for last week’s game following Carlos Zeca’s season-ending knee injury. “For me they are the Champions League favourites. They have been for the last couple of years but haven’t succeeded in the final part. Now they have a really good striker as well. Before they had good players with the touches, no mistakes, simple play, but now they also have the killer in the box. Whenever it comes into the box he just scores all the time.”
He further stated that they were aware that any point gained from last week’s game would have been a bonus for them; “We know it would have been a bonus to get any points from the game (last week). But we were not there and I hope we can learn from it. I hope we can bring a better performance on Tuesday.”
On Tuesday, the Danish side would need to keep the scores low as they could still pip Sevilla to the third spot that will see them drop to the Europa League. In front of their fans, they could put in a stellar performance and attempt to come away with a bonus point.
Pep Guardiola is expected to make changes to his team as the games continue to come thick and fast in the next few days. Jack Grealish, Sergio Gomez and Ilkay Gundogan are expected to return to the starting XI after being rested over the weekend. Erling Haaland is one other player who may be benched on Tuesday night, paving way for Julian Alvarez to lead the line. Despite not sealing qualification to the next round yet, the squad depth allows Guardiola to rotate and still get a good result against a deflated Copenhagen side.
Predicted Starting Lineup
FC Copenhagen predicted lineup vs Manchester City: Grabara; Diks, Vavro, Khocholava, Kristiansen; Stamenic, Lerager, Claesson; Johannesson, Karamoko, Daramy.
Manchester City predicted lineup vs FC Copenhagen: Ederson; Cancelo, Dias, Ake, Gomez; Rodri, Gundogan, De Bruyne; Grealish, Alvarez, Foden.
