It is notoriously difficult to guess a Manchester City starting XI – just ask any Fantasy Premier League manager – and given Pep Guardiola has a fully fit squad to choose from for Wednesday’s Champions League semi-final first leg, this line-up is especially tough to predict.
City head to Paris Saint-Germain for their first semi-final outing in Europe under Guardiola, having last reached the last four of the Champions League when Manuel Pellegrini was in charge in 2015-16.
On that occasion they lost 1-0 on aggregate to eventual winners Real Madrid, and this time around the winners of City’s meeting with PSG will head into the final as favourites to beat either Los Blancos or Chelsea.
The pressure is therefore on both City and PSG, who are both still chasing a first European Cup, but in the bid to break their duck Guardiola has a full arsenal of weapons from which to pick on Wednesday.
“Everyone is fit and ready and happy, I think,” Guardiola said. “All of us are happy.
“As a manager, I am grateful to have this opportunity to be there. For Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, who have many Champions Leagues in their cabinet, sometimes it is normality to play these games.
“For us it is new and we are incredibly grateful to live it. It is the first time [in the semi-finals] and it’s so nice to go to Paris.”
Guardiola does appear to have found a winning formula in the Champions League, and recent trends with his line-ups in Europe point towards the players most likely to start in Paris.
For example, Phil Foden has started the last nine Champions League games, Bernardo Silva the last seven, and both Kevin De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez the last three, and that means this quartet could feature as Guardiola’s attacking players on Wednesday.
De Bruyne played the false-nine role in the 2-1 quarter-final second-leg win at Borussia Dortmund, and of course should the Belgian reprise that role up front then Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus will both remain on the bench.
Raheem Sterling could be back among the substitutes as well having started the Carabao Cup final win over Tottenham, with Foden and Mahrez potentially starting out out wide and Silva playing just behind De Bruyne.
That would give Guardiola a wealth of attacking options off the bench, with Ferran Torres an alternative to Sterling, Aguero or Jesus.
Rodri and Ilkay Gundogan will likely start in midfield ahead of club captain Fernadinho, while in defence Sunday’s match-winner Aymeric Laporte could drop to the bench with John Stones partnering Ruben Dias at centre-back.
Kyle Walker has started the last five Champions League games, and the England international is set to do so again, while at left-back Joao Cancelo should get the nod over Oleksandr Zinchenko. Ederson is a near-certainty to start in goal after domestic cup goalkeeper Zack Steffen helped City win the Carabao Cup at Wembley on Sunday.
Predicted Man City XI: Ederson, Walker, Stones, Dias, Cancelo, Gundogan, Rodri, Mahrez, B. Silva, Foden, De Bruyne
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from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3dXMoCs
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