Manchester City must defeat Bayern Munich to keep Champions League hopes alive

Manchester City come in to this UEFA Champions League Group E clash at home to Bayern Munich knowing that only a win will do to keep their dwindling hopes of qualification to the knockout stages alive.

Manuel Pellegrini`s team currently sit bottom of a group containing Italian giants Roma and Russian club CSKA Moscow. Whilst Roma were always going to prove difficult opposition, Manchester City were expected to take 6 points off CSKA Moscow and the resulting 1 point that they took is why they find themselves propping up the group on just 2 points. The other point came from a draw at home to Roma and Manchester City have also suffered a defeat in Munich. The culmination of this is that they are now 21/10 outsiders with paddypower to defeat Bayern Munich at the Etihad and 5/1 with the same firm to qualify from the group.

With Yaya Toure suspended for this game following a foolish red card in the home defeat to CSKA Moscow, the reliance on Sergio Aguero to get the goals for Manchester City is even bigger than before. The striker has found the back of the net 12 times in the Premier League so far this season and twice in the Champions League. Although the Argentine did not have his best game of the season on the weekend against Swansea City, Pellegrini knows his team can not do without him and Aguero is 11/2 with SkyBet to score the first goal of the game. With Fernandinho and David Silva adding to the list of absentees for Manchester City, Frank Lampard could find himself in with a chance of starting the match. The former England international already has 4 goals to his name for Manchester City this season from limited opportunities and is 7/2 with SkyBet to score at any time.

Pep Guardiola takes Bayern Munich to the Etihad Stadium with the knowledge that they are safely through to the knockout stages and will progress as group winners regardless of the outcome in their remaining two fixtures. With a 100% record so far and 12 points to show for it from their 4 matches, the German Champions will be confident they can continue that fine winning run against Manchester City and are 6/5 with paddypower to do just that.

Despite scoring a total of 11 goals from their 4 games to date, Bayern are a team that like to share their goals around, with no single player scoring more than 2 goals during those 4 matches. However, Robert Lewandowski is one player who will not be happy with his total of just 1 goal during those 4 games and having scored on the weekend, will be looking to do the same in this match. Lewandowski is available at 9/2 with SkyBet to grab the first goal of the game. Looking elsewhere in the Bayern team and Franck Ribery enjoyed his last visit to the Etihad Stadium, scoring in a Bayern Munich win that night and the Frenchman is 5/2 with betfred to score at any time in this one.

Bayern Munich defeated Manchester City 3-1 at the Etihad last season and have lost just once in their last 13 away Champions League games. Meanwhile, Manchester City have only won twice in their last 9 home Champions League matches but during that time have only failed to score once. BetVictor offer 27/10 for a Bayern Munich win with both teams to score. Pep Guardiola does not appear as the type of manager who will allow his team to take it easy even though they have already qualified from the group and with Manchester City having to go for the win, expect there to be goals. BetVictor offer 9/5 for there to be over 3.5 goals in the match.

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24/11/2014     © Frixo 2024