Manchester City will be looking to make a decisive step towards reaching the UEFA Champions League knock-out stage when they take on Club Brugge at the Etihad Stadium.
A shocking 2-0 home loss to Crystal Palace over the weekend may have rocked Manchester City ahead of this meeting as Pep Guardiola’s men look to build on an emphatic 5-1 win in the reverse fixture on Matchday 3. Except for a 2-0 away defeat to Paris Saint-Germain on Matchday 2, the ‘Citizens’ have won their remaining two Champions League matches by an aggregate score of 11-4, netting 2+ first-half goals on each occasion. Man City will be aiming to put that scoring prowess on full display here, having scored 21 goals across their previous seven European clashes against Belgian opponents (3.00 per game). Remarkably, since Guardiola’s takeover in 2016, the reigning Premier League holders have won 80% of their Champions League matches on home turf (20/25), losing three of the other five (D2).
Meanwhile, Club Brugge were knocked down from an eye-catching two-game unbeaten start to their Champions League campaign (W1, D1) with an embarrassing loss to Man City last time out. That defeat has taken Brugge’s winless streak against English opponents in European football to 13 straight games (D3, L10), with the Belgians last prevailing in such a match-up in February 1995. Topically, they have never won a European fixture on English soil, losing 11 of their previous 13 visits to the country while drawing the other two. On the bright side, though, Club Brugge have gone from five consecutive defeats in the Champions League away matches to losing just two of their last nine road trips in the competition (W3, D4). Having outplayed RB Leipzig in their opening Group A travel, they are now looking to win back-to-back Champions League away games for the first time in the club’s history.
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