Man City vs Bayern: UCL Quarterfinal, First Leg Match Preview, Predicted Line-ups and Fantasy XI

Man City vs Bayern Munich meet for a seventh time in European competition, in this UEFA Champions League fixture at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night. The spoils have been shared across the previous six encounters, with three wins apiece – all in the UCL.

Match Details:

• Location: Manchester, England
• Stadium: Etihad Stadium
• Date: Tuesday 11 April
• Kick-off Time: 20:00 BST / 15:00 ET / 12:00 PST
• Referee: Jesús Gil Manzano (ESP)
• VAR: Juan Martínez Munuera (ESP)

Man City vs Bayern: Match Preview:

Pep Guardiola will face his former side, where he spent three seasons as a head coach between June 2013 and June 2016, before taking up the position at Man City that summer. Although he won the Bundesliga in all three seasons with Bayern, he was never able to win the UEFA Champions League there – his only two UCL trophies as a manager coming at Barcelona in 2008-09 and 2010-11.

Following the sacking of Julian Nagelsmann last month, Thomas Tuchel will take charge of Bayern in this game and come up against Guardiola for the 11th time as manager. It was Tuchel that outfoxed Guardiola in the 2021 UCL final, with his Chelsea side defeating Man City 1-0.

Tuchel also knocked Guardiola's Man City out of the FA Cup at the semi-final stage a month earlier – winning 1-0 at Wembley Stadium. These two met again in the Premier League in 2021-22, with Guardiola getting some sort of revenge with two 1-0 wins across the home and away fixtures that season.

Guardiola has won 54% of his games in the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League (39/72). Among those with 30+ games in the KO stages (including finals), he has the best win percentage of any manager and is the only one to have won more than half of his games. 

Team News:

Man City:

Phil Foden remains sidelined while he recovers from surgery to remove his appendix but City are otherwise at full strength, with Pep Guardiola even resting a number of his biggest names towards the end of Saturday's win over Southampton.

Erling Haaland shook off a groin injury to net twice against the Saints and will fancy his chances of scoring against Bayern, having bagged five in seven games against the German giants.

Bayern:

Joao Cancelo is eligible to face his parent club as UEFA rules forbid clubs from inserting any such clauses into loan deals, but he may start on the bench as Dayot Upamecano's return from domestic suspension should see Benjamin Pavard move out to right-back.

Sadio Mane, Serge Gnabry and Jamal Musiala all played significant minutes in the recent win over Freiburg after shaking off injuries and the trio will all expect to feature against City.

As for absentees, Manuel Neuer and Lucas Hernandez are out at the back, with forward duo Mathys Tel and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting both unavailable.

Man City vs Bayern: Head to Head:

• Manchester City and Bayern Munich are on an even footing as far their head-to-head record is concerned. They have won three games apiece out of the six matches that they have played in the UEFA Champions League.
• Manchester City have won two of their three home games against Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League, with their only such defeat coming against Pep Guardiola's side in 2013.
• After a run of four defeats away from home against English opponents in the UEFA Champions League, Bayern Munich have lost only two of their last 10 such matches in the competition.

Also Read: https://sportzpoint.com/football/manchester-citys-expenditure-with-pep-guardiola/

Predicted Line-ups:

Man City (3-2-4-1): Ederson; Akanji, Dias, Ake; Stones, Rodri; Silva, Gundogan, De Bruyne, Grealish; Haaland

Bayern (4-2-3-1): Sommer; Pavard, Upamecano, De Ligt, Davies; Kimmich, Goretzka; Gnabry, Musiala, Sane; Muller

MCI vs BAY: Fantasy XI

Ederson; Dias, Upamecano, De Ligt, Davies, Kimmich, Goretzka, De Bruyne, Musiala, Sane; Haaland.