Win and they’re in. Win or go home. Lose and you’re out. All the sports competition cliches apply to Manchester City here when they take on Club Brugge in the final matchday of this round of the UEFA Champions League. City need three more points, in order to reach 11 and qualify for the playoff round.
A draw is obviously not enough, and it just so happens that their opponent is currently sitting on 11 at residing in 20th place (the top 24 go through).
UEFA Champions League Matchday 8 of 8
Manchester City vs Club Brugge
Kickoff: Wed. Jan. 29, 8pm, Etihad Stadium, Manchester, UK
Manchester City Preview Material: Team News Starting XI Prediction
In other words, Man City can their opponents’ slot in the table here, as they already have the advantage of the goal differential tie-breaker over them.
This is the only UCL match on Wednesday that has implications of this nature, and Pep Guardiola will obviously go with the strongest side that he can pick, given the injury crisis that he has in the back line.
Manchester City Starting XI Prediction vs Club Brugge
Ederson; Matheus Nunes, John Stones, Manuel Akanji, Josko Gvardiol; Ilkay Gündogan, Bernardo Silva, Mateo Kovacic; Phil Foden, Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish; Erling Haaland
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and RG. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.