Key events
The teams!
The team sheets have been handed in, and the names upon them were these:
Man City: Ederson, Lewis, Dias, Akanji, Gvardiol, Rodri, Kovacic, Bobb, Alvarez, Matheus Luiz, Haaland. Subs: Walker, Stones, Ake, De Bruyne, Ortega, Bernardo Silva, Gomez, Carson, Foden, Wright, Susoho, Hamilton.
FC Copenhagen: Grabara, Ankersen, Jelert, Vavro, McKenna, Diks, Froholdt, Oskarsson, Clem, Achouri, Elyounoussi. Subs: Sorensen, Mattsson, Larsson, Cornelius, Boilesen, Meling, Runarsson, Oscar Hojlund, Bardghji, Gadeberg-Burr.
Referee: Espen Eskas (Norway).
In answer to your question, yes, Oscar Hojlund is Rasmus’s younger brother.
Tonight’s #UCL squad 💫
XI | Ederson, Lewis, Akanji, Dias (C), Gvardiol, Rodrigo, Kovacic, Bobb, Alvarez, Nunes, Haaland
SUBS | Ortega Moreno, Carson, Walker, Stones, Ake, De Bruyne, Bernardo, Gomez, Foden, Wright, Susoho, Hamilton#ManCity pic.twitter.com/wIcExpBAFy
— Manchester City (@ManCity) March 6, 2024
Preamble
Happy anniversary! Yes, today is the quarter-of-a-year anniversary of the last time Manchester city lost a game, since when they have played 19 and won 17. Pep Guardiola’s side are a juggernaut, on a runaway train, riding a landslide towards a tidal wave. Along the way they won 3-1 in Copenhagen in the first leg of this tie, a night when they had 13 shots on target – a ludicrously high number, and also their third-highest tally in the month of February – and an xG of 3.50 while their opponents had one shot on target – a ludicrously low number, and one that three of City’s last seven opponents, and 12 so far this season, have been unable to better – and an xG of 0.33. As if their chances of winning needed lengthening, Copenhagen come into this game amid something of an injury crisis, with Viktor Claessen and Rasmus Falk among the absentees. There’s no such thing as a foregone conclusion in football, obviously, but the real question tonight is how much City will entertain us while strolling to inevitable victory.
“It is close to impossible but we will be ready for this and will try our absolute best for Danish football,” the Copenhagen coach, Jacob Neestrup, lamented yesterday. “We will keep trying. Everyone has to believe we can do this. Anything can happen at any time. We will do our absolute best. We will not throw in the towel.”
“In this competition it is so really important to be focused because in football everything can happen and you have to be aware of that,” Pep Guardiola countered. He means, I think, everything can happen in the same way Bob’s Country Bunker plays both kinds of music. Anything could happen – City could win 3-0, or City could win 8-0. So, drama and excitement await. Welcome!
