Manchester City v Porto - UEFA Champions League - Weds 21st October 2020 - KO. 8:00 PM UK Time. Preview and MDT | Vital Football

Manchester City v Porto - UEFA Champions League - Weds 21st October 2020 - KO. 8:00 PM UK Time. Preview and MDT

Buzz Lightyear

Alert Team
The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us
Arsenal in the bag and no time to sit and think because we have Porto on Wednesday night, The Special One's old team. Porto were the Pot 1 picks and as such should be considered the top team in the group and it is City to try and take all three points. I know next to nothing about Porto other than way back in 2012 we stuffed them 4-0 goals from Aguero, Silva, Dzeko and Pizzaro (yep I don't know who he is either) when we ran out a 6-1 agg win over 2 legs in the round of 32. This being our only encounter with the Portuguese Champions.

Anyway, lots of water has passed over the bridge since then and City have their own problems at home concerning a few vital injuries.

City Team News, it would seem that Mendy, Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus are not available for the game and Pep has a concern about Kevin De Bruyne who probably won't feature either.

Beat the Pep
Ederson
Cancelo, Stones, Garcia, Ake
Fernandinho, Gundogan
Sterling,Foden, Bernardo, Torres
Aguero.

Subs
Steffen, Walker,Dias, Mahrez, Rodri,Delap,Doyle,Palmer,

Match Officials
Referee
:
Andris Treimanis (LVA)
Assistant referees:
Haralds Gudermanis (LVA)
Aleksejs Spasjonnikovs (LVA)
Video Assistant Referee:
Jochem Kamphuis (NED)
Assistant Video Assistant Referee:
Kevin Blom (NED)
Fourth official:
Aleksandrs Golubevs (LVA)

Sat 24 Oct 12:30 UK Time
Premier League
West Ham United v Manchester City
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Pep Guardiola has given an update on the injured players in his squad ahead of our clash with Porto.

MENS TEAM
Dias thriving on added pressure at City

Kevin De Bruyne, Aymeric Laporte, Benjamin Mendy and Gabriel Jesus will all miss Wednesday’s Champions League clash with the Portuguese champions.
“We expect Kevin and Aymeric to return in the next few weeks; Gabriel, maybe a little bit longer and we hope they will come back soon and the team will grow," said Pep.
“Olek Zinchenko is back and other players have recently returned.
“Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo and Joao Cancelo are in good condition.
“We are still a little bit away from where we want to be."
The City boss stressed the importance of starting the group stages well at home.
City lost 2-1 to Lyon in the first group stage home game of the 2018/19 campaign and, as a result, qualifying for the Round of 16 became harder.
“For many clubs, including ourselves, it is incredible to be here in this competition,” said Pep.
“The first step is to win the first game. We are still far away from the big target.
“Considering what happened (against Lyon in August), we are not allowed to dream.
“The reality is to win the home games is so important for qualification.
“Losing to Lyon in Lisbon was a tough moment. I felt so responsible. I was not able to drive the club and the players to victory.
“I feel so responsible. We have to accept the reality; we were not good enough. We didn’t play bad, but at the same time we made mistakes and we cannot do that in this competition and go through.
“The reality is, every player and manager, not just here, has to dream with high expectations.
“We have to accept it with humility, with all the bad situations we have. When we do this it is the best way to improve.
“The Champions League is so demanding and the mistakes we commit, I feel so bad for the players.
“We are going to start tomorrow from zero again.
“We have to play six games. Every game is important. Every game is three points.
“I cannot deny when you play the first game away it is not as important as when the first game is at home.
“The objective is to get three points. Ruben Dias explained really well what Porto are as a team.
"We need to be more consistent and improve on the little details. This is the main thing we have to do.”
https://www.mancity.com/news/mens/p...pdate-on-jesus-de-bruyne-and-laporte-63738799
 
Man City Champions League A List: Ederson, Steffen, Carson, Walker, Dias, Stones, Ake, Zinchenko, Laporte, Mendy, Cancelo, Gundogan, Rodri, De Bruyne, Bernardo, Torres, Fernandinho, Mahrez, Sterling, Jesus, Aguero.
B List: Trafford, Garcia, Harwood-Bellis, Foden, Doyle, Bernabe, Palmer, Nmecha
 
Inside intel...
Given his Portuguese background, Ruben Dias knows all about the threat of Portuguese champions Porto better than anybody else in the City dressing room.

And he admitted he had already supplied some inside information to his team-mates.

“I am the person who knows them best and obviously I will try to help the best way I can. I know them well. Hopefully, it will be good intel for the way we approach the game,” Dias revealed.

“They are a strong team. They know what they need to do on the pitch, they are very good at dead balls. We know we have a difficult game ahead of us and we need to be strong in our game to get the win.”

https://matchday.mancity.com/fixtures/first-team/2020/manchester-city-v-fc-porto/
 
STARTING XI | Ederson, Walker, Dias, Garcia, Cancelo, Gundogan, Rodrigo, Mahrez, Bernardo, Sterling (C), Aguero

SUBS | Steffen, Carson, Stones, Zinchenko, Torres, Fernandinho, Foden, Nmecha, Doyle, Harwood-Bellis, Palmer, Bernabe
 
Pep Guardiola says he feels responsible for not being able to "drive" Manchester City beyond last season's Champions League quarter-finals.