After losing 2-4 to PSG in the penultimate match, Man City dropped to 25th place in the Premier League. However, fortunately, The Citizens still have the right to decide to enter the play-off round. They only need to win against Club Brugge to be able to finish in the top 24. But if they draw or lose, City will stop early in Europe's number 1 tournament.
Club Brugge are in 20th place with a worse goal difference, so City only need to beat them. The near-impossible scenario that would see the English side eliminated despite a win would be if Dinamo Zagreb beat AC Milan by 11 goals or more. That is clearly an impossible number.
Guardiola's side can be confident as they have not lost in 90 minutes in their last 33 Champions League matches. The visitors, on the other hand, will be in a better mood as they only need a draw at the Etihad to secure a place in the play-off round. That is not a difficult goal for coach Nicky Hayen's team, as they are unbeaten in their last 20 matches in all competitions.
In that series, Club Brugge also won points against strong opponents such as Juventus, Aston Villa, Celtic and Sporting Lisbon in the last 4 Champions League matches. But the Belgian representative has a rather poor record when facing Man City. In two group stage matches of the 2021-2022 season, they lost heavily to their opponents with scores of 1-5 and 1-4 respectively.
Expected lineup
Man City: Ederson; Lewis, Stones, Akanji, Gvardiol; Silva, Kovacic; Foden, De Bruyne, Savinho; Haaland
Club Brugge: Mignolet; Sabbe, Mechele, Ordonez, De Cuyper; Jashari, Onyedika; Talbi, Vanaken, Tzolis; Nilsson
