Manchester City welcome Galatasaray to the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night for a pivotal Champions League clash that will determine the difficulty of their path through the knockout rounds.
Pep Guardiola’s side are scrapping for a place in the all-important top eight after a damaging defeat at Bodo/Glimt last week, while Galatasaray arrive knowing that even a point in Manchester could significantly boost their qualification hopes.
Kick-off is at 8pm GMT, with the game broadcast live in the UK on TNT Sports.
Man City predicted XI vs Galatasaray
Man City predicted XI (4-5-1): Donnarumma; Nunes, Khusanov, Ake, O’Reilly; Reijnders, Foden, Lewis, Silva, Doku; Haaland
Man City team news vs Galatasaray
City’s injury and suspension issues have deepened over the last few weeks and they are again set to be without several important first-team players for this crucial European fixture.
John Stones and Ruben Dias remain doubts after recent injury setbacks, while the likes of Oscar Bobb, Savinho and Mateo Kovacic are still working their way back to full fitness and may not be risked from the start.
Rodri is unavailable due to suspension after receiving two yellow cards in the space of a few minutes against Bodo/Glimt last week.
New signings Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi are ineligible to feature in this phase of the competition, although they can be added for the next round.
Guardiola is likely to start with a back four of Mateus Nunes, Abdukodir Khusanov, Nathan Ake and Nico O’Reilly ahead of Italian star Gianluigi Donnarumma in goal.
Nico Gonzalez is being assessed in Tuesday’s training to see whether he can replace Rodri in midfield with Rico Lewis and Bernardo Silva the other main candidates to play alongside Tijjani Reijnders.
Rayan Cherki could miss out in the attacking positions with Phil Foden and Erling Haaland, who were both rested against Wolves, likely to return.
Jeremy Doku is also pushing for a recall after recovering from the kick he received early on in the Manchester derby.
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Former favourites return to Etihad
The return of former City stars Leroy Sane and Ilkay Gundogan to the Etihad Stadium for this crunch clash brings the high turnover of Guardiola’s squad in the past couple of years into sharp focus.
Sane left for Bayern Munich five-and-a-half years ago and only Rodri, Foden, Bernardo Silva and John Stones remain from the German’s final season in Manchester.
Gundogan departed for the second time just last September after a summer in which City also said goodbye to modern legends like Kevin de Bruyne, Kyle Walker, Ederson and Jack Grealish.
That quartet won 21 Premier League titles between them and, although they were replaced by top performers like Donnarumma, Cherki and Reijnders, there is no substitute for title-winning nous when you are in the thick of a tense run-in.
Guardiola would ideally love to lean on his tried and trusted stars over the next few months but Stones, Gvardiol and Dias are all currently missing with injuries.
