Pep Guardiola’s high flying Manchester City take on German club Borussia Monchengladbach on Tuesday night in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League Round of 16. The home leg of Manchester City will take place at the Puskas Stadium in Budapest and not in Manchester due to COVID regulations.
Leading 2-0 after winning the away leg comfortably, Man City are the overall favourites to go through to the quarter-finals. Monchengladbach was outplayed in the first leg and need to hope for a miracle to go through to the quarter-finals.
Man City brushed aside Fulham at weekend winning 3-0 with a much-changed lineup after key players were rested by Guardiola for the Champions League tie. Sergio Aguero scored his first Premier League goal of this season with a well-taken penalty after John Stones and Gabriel Jesus scored in the second half to give City all 3 points and took another step towards the title.
Borussia Monchengladbach has been on an abysmal run of form, losing their last 8 games in all competitions. They suffered a 3-1 defeat to FC Augsburg over the weekend which left them 10th in the Bundesliga with 25 games played. Their manager Marco Rose, who is to take over charge of Borussia Dortmund next season, could see his time at Monchengladbach come to an early end if his woeful form continues.
TEAM NEWS:
Manchester City are at full strength for the midweek game, with key players rested for the weekend fixture with Fulham. They have almost no injuries although Dutch defender Nathan Ake who has been hampered with injuries this season could be doubtful. Pep Guardiola will be expected to name a strong squad on Tuesday night to make sure his team go through to the quarter-finals.
Borussia Monchengladbach could be without left-back Ramy Benasebaini and midfielder Christoph Kramer with both missing the Augsburg game over the weekend.
PREDICTED LINEUPS:
Manchester City XI: Ederson; Kyle Walker, John Stones, Ruben Dias, Oleksander Zinchenko; Rodri, Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan; Riyad Mahrez, Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling.
Borussia Monchengladbach XI: Yan Sommer; Stefan Lainer, Matthias Ginter, Nico Elvedi, Oscar Wendt; Denis Zakaria, Florian Neuhaus; Valentino Lazaro, Lars Stindl, Marcus Thuram; Alassane Plea.
PREDICTIONS:
Manchester City are the clear favourites here and if Monchengladbach’s form is anything to go by, this could be a heavy defeat for them. Man City’s defence has been on top form and it will take a mighty effort from the German club to breach that defence. It could be a pretty one-sided game and Man City will certainly keep all the possession.
Manchester City vs Borussia Monchengladbach: 4-0
