Reigning English champions Manchester City face a potentially do or die clash as they take on Belgian outfit Club Brugge in their final UCL league phase game. City’s shock 4-2 loss to Paris Saint-Germain last week, which saw them squander a 2-0 second half lead in the French capital, means that they’re outside the qualification zone going into this Round 8 fixture.
Pep Guardiola’s side are 25th (with 8 points) in this new, revamped 36-team competition, which sees the first 24 advance after the league phase. Brugge are 20th and already have 11 points, which means they simply need to avoid defeat at the Etihad to ensure progress to the next stage. Conversely, the equation is pretty simple for City- win and they’re though; lose and they’re out.
City come into this game on the back of an important 3-1 win over Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea over the weekend. The Citizens started poorly, with a mistake from debutant Abdukodir Khusanov allowing Noni Madueke to score Chelsea’s opener after just 3 minutes. However City grew into the game, as did Khusanov, and they eventually ran out 3-1 winners thanks to goals from Josko Gvardiol, Erling Haaland and Phil Foden.
City had started their UCL campaign quite well this season, drawing with Italian champions Inter and then comfortably beating both Slovan Bratislava (4-0) and Sparta Prague (5-0), scoring 9 goals in the process.
However their loss of form domestically then coincided with a slump in Europe and they went winless in their next four UCL games.
Sporting 4-1 Man City
Man City 3-3 Feyenoord (after leading 3-0 in the second half)
Juventus 2-0 Man City
PSG 4-2 Man City (after leading 2-0 in second half)
City’s recent form in the league has almost seen them being written off in the title race. With a 12 point gap behind Liverpool (who also have a game in hand), City fans might be better served trying their luck at the likes of TwinSpires than having a punt on their own team to overhaul the Reds at this stage.
Khusanov and fellow winter signings Omar Marmoush and Vitor Reis are all ineligible for this clash, which means we will see John Stones restored to the heart of City’s defence. Bernardo Silva had an excellent game against Chelsea and Guardiola will again be hoping for a similar outing from the Portuguese star against Brugge.
Brugge’s tactics should be pretty simple- park the bus at the Etihad and aim to get a point. The Belgian champions have conceded just 8 goals in 7 games so far, six of which were in their first 3 games against Dortmund and Milan. Since then, they’ve taken points off the likes of Sporting, Aston Villa and Juventus, all teams that have beaten City this season.
Brugge in the CL this season (earliest games first)
City and Brugge had met in this competition back in the 21/22 season in the group stages, with Guardiola’s men winning 5-1 in Belgium and following it up a fortnight later with a 4-1 win at the Etihad.
After the Brugge game, City face Arsenal this weekend- Mikel Arteta’s side have the luxury of focusing all their attention on the league because they’re practically assured to qualification in Europe. For City though, defeats in these two games against Brugge and the Gunners would all but mean the end of the current season for them, and make the rest of the games practically redundant in the scheme of things.