MANCHESTER CITY take on Club Brugge tonight looking to get back to winning ways in the Champions League.
Pep Guardiola’s men sit third in Group A behind the Belgians after dropping to a 2-0 defeat against PSG last time out.
- Kick-off time: 5.45pm BST
- TV channel: BT Sport 2
- Live stream FREE: BT Sport app/ee customers watch free
- Club Brugge XI: Mignolet, Sowah, Clinton Mata, Hendry, Sobol, Nsoki, Rits, Balanta, Vanaken, de Ketelaere, Lang.
- Man City XI: Ederson, Walker, Dias, Laporte, Cancelo, Silva, Rodri, De Bruyne, Mahrez, Foden, Grealish.
Follow ALL the latest with our live blog below…
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DUTCH COURAGE
Club Brugge bought talented young winger Noa Lang, 22, from Ajax in the summer for just £5m following a successful loan last season.
He scored 17 goals in 38 games in all competitions last campaign, as well as bagging 14 assists, earning himself a call-up to the Dutch national team.
He came on as a second-half substitute in their 1-0 win over Latvia this month, before starting in their 6-0 demolition of Gibraltar, in which he also got an assist.
Definitely one to watch tonight and one to keep an eye on for the future.
NINTCHDBPICT000687086417Credit: Getty DANGER MAN
All eyes in Belgium will be on young striker Charles De Ketelaere, 20, who has scored four goals for Club Brugge so far this season.
He also scored on just his second appearances for the Belgium national team in the Nations League third-place play-off against Italy.
Guess who got the assist…
Credit: Reuters CLUB BRUGGE TEAM NEWS
XI: Mignolet, Mata, Hendry, Nsoki, Sobol, Balanta, Rits, Vanaken, Sowah, Lang, De Ketelaere.
SUBS: Maouassa, Ricca, Izquierdo, Vormer, Van der Brempt, Dost, Shinton, Mechele, Mbamba, Lammens.
MAN CITY TEAM NEWS
XI: Ederson, Walker, Dias (C), Laporte, Cancelo, Rodri, De Bruyne, Foden, Mahrez, Grealish.
SUBS: Steffen, Carson, Ake, Sterling, Gundogan, Jesus, Zinchenko, Fernandinho, Palmer.
Ederson is restored in goal after missing out against Burnley having been on international duty with Brazil, meanwhile John Stones and Nathan Ake drop out to be replaced by Kyle Walker and Ruben Dias.
Dias is captain for the night with club captain Fernandinho on the bench, whilst the midfield trio of De Bruyne, Rodri and Bernardo Silva stays the same from the 2-0 win against Burnley on Saturday.
Sterling drops out and Grealish is brought back in, with Jesus restored to the bench after coming back unscathed from international duty. Youngster Cole Palmer also makes the bench again.
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN
Kevin De Bruyne is determined to put right the defeat to Chelsea in the Champions League final and to do so they’ll have to get the better of Club Brugge tonight.
He’ll be playing for City in his native Belgium for the very first time and will be desperate to put on a show for both the home and away fans.
“We always want to win every competition we enter.
“Obviously, to win the Champions League is very hard and the level is that high, sometimes you just have to say well done to the other team and just move on, because there’s nothing else that you can do.
“Sometimes, people want to have a run of games, but then for whatever reason, he [Pep] chooses other players.”
FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING
This will not only be the first time these two sides meet in a competitive fixture, but it will also be the first time Man City take on any Belgian side in the Champions League.
Club Brugge are winless in 12 matches against English opponents (having drawn three and lost nine) since beating Chelsea 1-0 in the Cup Winners’ Cup in February 1995.
The Belgian side took on City’s rivals Man Utd in the Europa League Round of 32 last year, losing 5-0 at Old Trafford and drawing 1-1 in Brugge, giving a good account of themselves in the second fixture.
FORM TEAMS
Both sides come into this game in good form, with City winning seven out of their last ten in all competitions and Club Brugge unbeaten in their last seven.
The Belgian side are currently second in the Belgian Pro League, with 22 points from 11 games, meanwhile City are third in the Prem, with 17 points from their opening eight games.
GOOD AFTERNOON
Hello and welcome to SunSport’s live coverage of this exciting Champions League tie – Club Brugge vs Manchester City at the Jan Breydel Stadium.
The home side are currently second in Group A, ahead of Pep Guardiola’s side by one point after a surprise away victory over RB Leipzig and a hard-fought draw at home against PSG.
City also beat RB Leipzig in a thrilling 6-3 win at home just over a month ago, but were beaten 2-0 away at PSG thanks to an early strike from Idrissa Gueye and a Lionel Messi stunner in the second half.
The end of this game will mark the half way point in this season’s Champions League Group Stage and Pep Guardiola’s side will want nothing less than three points to get themselves one step closer to the last 16.
But Club Brugge have shown they are no pushovers, are in good form in the league and will look to use their home advantage to get one up on the Premier League champions in tonight’s game.
City will be the favourites by some margin, but Pep Guardiola will warn his side against complacency when they know that one misstep in this tricky group and they could find themselves out of the Champions League.
We’re expecting team news shortly so stick with us and we’ll bring you live build up of the game as we countdown to kick-off at 5.45pm GMT.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
