Manchester City vs Copenhagen

Manchester City will be looking to finish the job after a 3-1 first-leg win in Denmark when they entertain Copenhagen at the Etihad Stadium in the return leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.

Pep Guardiola’s high-flying side enjoyed a perfect warm-up for this fixture, coming from behind to beat cross-city rivals Manchester United 3-1 at the weekend. In addition to staying within striking distance of Premier League pacesetters Liverpool, Manchester City made it 19 games unbeaten across all competitions with that triumph (W17, D2), meaning they’ll take the field in a buoyant mood. Back to Europe, where they boast a formidable 100% win ratio across seven matches this season, the Citizens are in a prime position to make it eight out of eight, considering their free-firing squad netted precisely three goals in each victory. Adding to Guardiolas’ confidence, his men are unbeaten in their last 29 European outings on home turf (W27, D2).

That paints a bleak picture for visiting Copenhagen, who slumped to a 2-0 defeat to fierce domestic rivals Midtjylland last time out, relinquishing a run of two consecutive league wins by 2+ goals ‘to nil.’ To better understand the size of the task at hand, you’d need to know the Danes haven’t won any of their seven previous contests on English soil (D2, L5). Moreover, Copenhagen’s long-standing struggles on the road have seen them register just one victory in their last 15 away matches in the Champions League proper (D4, L10). On top of that, they’ve failed to score on back-to-back continental travels ahead of this trip (D1, L1), though one of them yielded a respectable 0-0 draw against European powerhouse Bayern Munich.s