When
the Premier League Champions become host to the Bundesliga Champions today, it
will be the 3rd time in the last two seasons of the Champions League when both
of these sides will meet each other. While it is nearly the same Manchester
City that faced Munich last season, Bayern Munich have been better in attack as
well as in midfield as the former Dotmund and Liverpool players have jumped the
ship for a change of environment in favor of the German Champions.
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Last
time both these sides met, Manchester City won the match 3-2 at Allianz arena
to get an unforgettable victory for their fans.
While
these sides have met 4 times in the Champions League so far in their history,
the win and loss ratio is exactly in balance as both of them have won 2 matches
each and it will be interesting to note that the 1st ever fixture between these
two sides in the Champions League came in 2011, sometime after the Citizens
were revolutionized by the Arab takeover.
Since
seeing of each other for the 1st time in their history in 2011, both
these sides have met 3 times in the following 3 years since today.
While
Bayern Munich have played one match less than their rivals in the domestic
League so far this season, both the sides have managed to get 7 points so far.
However with City sitting 5 points adrift of the Leaders Chelsea in the Premier
League after a relatively slow start to their Premier League defense, Bayern
Munich have come out with all guns blazing as they are joint on points with the
1st team with only the goal difference separating them and Bundesliga current
leaders Bayern Leverkusen.
After
making a relatively slow start to their season, Premier League Champions will
be itching to show their mettle today against the European Power-house Bayern Munich.
When
the group stages draws were made in Monaco on 28th August in Monaco, both the
teams knew they were in for a battle as it won’t be unwise if their group is
amongst the toughest group in the Champions League so far. With 1 time runner
up of the Champions League in Roma with the 3rd side, a difficult away trip to
CSKA Moscow won’t be welcomed by any side in the Champions League. SO when both
of them will meet tonight, it will be a must-win-game for both as have one eye
on the throne of Group E.
Team
News:
Manchester
City:
One
of the most unlikely misses, boss Manuel Pelligrini will miss the match as he
is due for a touchline ban sustained by him at the end of his team’s Champions
League campaign last season.
With
defender Pablo Zabaleta injured after making a full appearance against the
gunners on Saturday, former Arsenal right back Sagna will look to make his
mark.
Stevan
Jovetic is still injured as the defender suffered an injury after the match
against Aston Villa one week before the International break, he has been ruled
out.
Meanwhile
the Ivorian Yaya Toure is expected to start amongst the starting 11 after
missing the crunch fixture against Arsenal on Saturday.
Bayern
Munich:
Bayern
Munich will be far from full fitness as players like Badstuber and Ribery have
been ruled out of this match. Badtuber suffered an injury in his team’s 2-0 win
last week while Ribery has been out of action as he suffered a knee injury
as-well.
One
of the major doubts of this game, Dutchman Arjen Robben had an injury and is
expected to start from the bench for the Bavarians.
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