Manchester City hosts TSG 1899 Hoffenheim Wednesday night in what will be the final UEFA Champions League group stage clash for both sides. It will also be just the second ever meeting between the two clubs. The first saw Man City came from behind to beat Hoffenheim 2-1 on UCL group stage match day two.
Fresh off their first domestic loss of the season, 2-0 at Chelsea on Saturday, City will head into this one looking to win, and win handily.
“We have to always show up in every Champions League game we play because if you don’t, you will pay the consequences,” said City forward Leroy Sane.
“In our mind, we are starting from scratch and that’s how we’ll approach this game.”
Let’s take a look at who could be in the first team with Sane Wednesday night.
The Bank Manchester City Starting XI Prediction (4-3-3) vs TSG 1899 Hoffenheim
Forwards: Leroy Sane, Gabriel Jesus, Riyad Mahrez
Midfielders: Ilkay Gundogan, Fernandinho, Phil Foden
Defenders: Fabian Delph, Aymeric Laporte, Danilo, Nicolas Otamendi
Goalkeeper: Ederson
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim vs Manchester City FYIs
Kick-off, TV: 8pm (BST), 3pm (EST), Wednesday December 11th, Etihad Stadium, BT Sport 2 (U.K.), Univision Deportes (USA)
Google Result Probability: Manchester City win 80%, draw 13%, Hoffenheim win 7%
Odds via Betfair: City win 2/11, draw 13/2, Hoffenheim win 14/1
Match Preview: go to this link
Press conference Videos, Quotes, Julian Nagelsmann and Andrej Kramaric, Pep Guardiola and Leroy Sane: coming Tuesday.
Prediction: Manchester City 3, Hoffenheim 0
Feel free to post your own starting XI predictions, as well as your best guess as to what the final score will be.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.