Champions League Round of 16: Manchester City – FC Copenhagen

Guardiola’s men are still in the race to defend their treble of last season. It would be a unique feature if they manage to repeat last season’s performance. In the Premier League they are in a very intense title race with Arsenal and Liverpool but in the Champions League they look cruising into the quarter final. The 3-1 victory in Copenhagen means that FC Copenhagen would need a miracle to prevent the Citizens from reaching the last 8. 

Manchester City team News

Jack Grealish is the only player to miss the return tie, meaning that Guardiola will have plenty to choose from this match. With the fixtures following each other up in rapid fashion and the important clash with Liverpool on Sunday it would not be too surprising if a few key players get some rest. Especially given the first match result, it looks highly unlikely that City will encounter too much trouble in this game. 

FC Copenhagen team News

FC Copenhagen have a few more injury problems as they miss starting midfielders Viktor Claesson and Lukas Lerager and defender Davit Khocholova. Especially the absence of Claesson and Lerager will be felt by the Danish side as both experienced midfielders are very important to the squad.

Manchester City Form

Manchester City, as most years, are in splendid form once the season hits the important stages. The blue side of Manchester has not seen defeat in 3 months, losing to Aston Villa in the beginning of December for the last time. Since then they have only drawn twice in 19 games. The return of De Bruyne and Haaland has definitely spurred them to greater heights and it looks very difficult to stop them. Their performance against Man United was very impressive, with Guardiola´s side completely in control of that tie. 

FC Copenhagen Form

Copenhagen their form has not been as stellar as their opponents´. The Danish side did pick up two wins in a row in the Danish league after their defeat against Manchester City. However, their last away performance against Midtjylland would not boost their confidence for sure, as they lost 2-0 and now are trailing that same Midtjylland side 3 points. The Danish league is seeing a very interesting title race as well, with 3 points separating the top 3 sides at the moment. 

What do the stats say?

• Manchester City 19 games unbeaten
• Copenhagen have not won against city in the 5 previous encounters
• Guardiola has not been eliminated from 9 two legged Champions League ties when winning the first game away from home

Our verdict

The chance of a Copenhagen upset seems close to 0. Manchester City are just too strong, even though they are likely to rotate some players to spare them ahead of their clash with Liverpool this Sunday. However, the odds for a City win are so low that there is not much value in there.