Tuesday, 10 December 2013, 20:45 CET - 7:45 P.M. GMT
Allianz Arena, Munich, Germany
In this season Bayern is also playing relentlessly, efficiently and
very tight in defence which means that they are again playing as
champions, so it appears that they will again defend two or three
trophies which they won last season. They are still undefeated, and very
few teams can boast that they were close or possibly better in the
field than them. They played two draws in two championship matches in
which they dominated, but were not as efficient as they are usually.
This definitely was not the case on Saturday in Bremen, where they
filled the network of Werder with seven balls.
They have
completely destroyed their opponents from all positions, because the
goals were achieved by six different players, with one own goal. Lahm,
Robben were absent while Dante remained on the bench. Now it is certain
that Schweinsteiger and Robben will not be able to play, while Lahm is
recovered, but coach Guardiola will decide if he is going to send him to
the field immediately.
Manchester City team have done well in Europe if you consider that in the previous
two editions they were eliminated in the group stages. The Citizen have
lost four of their eight away games in the Premier League this term but
if they do manage to beat Bayern by three clear goals (or a two goal
margin of any scoreline other than 2-0 or 3-1) they will finish top of
Group D, thus giving themselves the chance of a better draw in the next
round.
Pellegrini has suggested that he will rest some of his big names and
Kompany is one of those players likely to be rested. David Silva is
expected to be available after recovering from the calf injury which has
kept him out of action for the last four weeks. Both Hart and Dzeko
should be in the first 11 while Jovetic and Nastasic are injured and
Yaya Toure serves a one-match ban.
Bayern have the best defensive record in the competition so far this
term, having conceded just two. When they met earlier at the Etihad, it
was over four goals as Bayern came out 3-1 winners. Then Manchester City
were simply outplayed and outclassed by the German side.
Pellegrini has never managed to get a win over Pep Guardiola in his
time with Villarreal, Real Madrid and Malaga. While, in his time with
Barcelona, Guardiola faced english sides nine times and never lost one
of them.
Possible line-ups:
Bayern Munich (4-2-3-1): Neuer; Rafinha, Van Buyten, Boateng, Kirchhoff; Shaqiri, Kroos; Thiago Alcantara, Götze, Müller; Mandžukić.
Manchester City (4-4-2): Hart; Richards, Demichelis, Lescott, Clichy; Milner, Garcia, Rodwell, Nasri; Džeko, Negredo.
Football: Champions League: 6th matchday, Group D
Referee: David Fernández
