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Manchester City’s chances of qualifying for the next stage of the Champions League hang by a thread, but in order to stand even the slimmest chance of making it to the final 16 they must find a way of securing maximum points against German giants Bayern Munich on Wednesday.
Roberto Mancini’s men suffered a heart breaking 2-1 defeat at the hands of Napoli in their last Champions League outing, meaning the Serie A outfit are in the driving seat to make it through while City must now rely on bottom-of-the-group Villarreal to do them a huge favour.
Napoli occupy second place on eight points, five points behind already-confirmed group winners Bayern, but crucially one point clear of City, who sit in 3rd place on seven points.
Anything but a Napoli win against Villarreal will do Roberto Mancini’s side a world of favours, but only if they can get all three points against a Munich side that taught them the harshest of lessons when they met in September.
The Bundesliga leaders gave the Citizens a lesson in how to play European football when they run out 2-0 winners, although in the scoreline could have easily have been a lot worse for City, at the Allianz arena, while the fallout of that game continues to be felt at the Etihad Stadium to this day.
Carlos Tevez has been in exile ever since he appeared to refuse to come on as a substitute in the game, with the Argentinian subsequently charged with five breaches of his contract for refusing to warm up and fined two weeks wages and banned for two weeks.
Tevez has since refused to return to Manchester, instead staying in Argentina as he tries to manoeuvre a route out of the City, with a move to AC Milan on the cards when the transfer window opens in January.
The big injury concern for City appears to be Micah Richards, with the England international struggling to make it in time for the game with a slight calf problem.
Pablo Zabaleta may step into the side in place of Richards having recovered from a knock sustained in the mid-week Carling Cup quarter final against Arsenal, while Gael Clichy looks set to continue his run in the side with Aleksander Kolarov still three weeks away from fully recovering from a groin complaint.
Match Winner
Bayern Munich were clear winners when the two teams last met in Germany, but City will be hoping that home advantage will help them out this time coupled with the fact Bayern have already qualified.
City are 4/7 with SportingBet, while the visitors are 5.50 (9/2) with BetFred to secure all three points. The draw is 4.33 (10/3) with VC Bet
First Goalscorer
Both teams posses an impressive array of attacking talent and will look to go for the win meaning the first goalscorer market should be an interesting one.
Edin Dzeko leads the way at 5/1 with BetFred while team-mates Mario Balotelli and Sergio Aguero come in at 11/2 with SkyBet and BetFred respectively.
Munich have perhaps one of the most in-form goalscorers in Europe in Mario Gomez, and the German is 7.50 (13/2) with Boylesports to get proceedings under way, while Arjen Robben is also a threat at 9.00 (8/1) with SkyBet.
Recommended Bets
First Goalscorer: Arjen Robben, 11.00 (10/1) William Hill
Correct score: 2-2 draw, 16/1 SportingBet
