Manchester City Vs Schalke 04 UCL 12 March Preview

Manchester City will take on Schalke 04 at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday in what promises to be an enthralling second leg encounter of their double-legged Champions League last-16 tie.

Manchester City

The Citizens once again showed that they could overcome pretty much any challenge when they did so against the Hornets’ defensive wall to record a commanding 3-1 win.

The target for this season remains the quadruple and their focus would now switch to Champions League and FA Cup action after strolling past helpless Watford.

Despite their domestic dominance, Manchester City haven’t been able to replicate such clinical performances in Europe.

Pep’s side has lost both of their two Champions League knockout matches at the Etihad both 2-1 defeats, same scoreline by which they lost against Lyon on opening matchday of the season.

With the way PSG and Real Madrid have crashed out of the Champions League this term, Manchester City would have to put on an excellent performance to ensure that they go on to the next round of the competition.

Recent form (in all competitions): W W W W W W

Schalke 04

Schalke have lost their last three round of 16 tie matches with the most recent of them coming as far back as 2015 when they lost to Real Madrid on a 5-4 aggregate scoreline.

The Royal Blues will be making the trip to the Etihad on the back of a four match losing run that has seen them ship in 14 goals and scoring only four with two of those coming via penalties taken by Bentaleb.

Indeed, three of the Royal Blues’ last four goals in the competition have come via penalties and of course they would have the boots of Bentaleb to thank for that.

They are the underdogs coming into this fixture and look unlikely to put an end to their losing run at the Etihad.

Recent form (in all competitions): L D L L L L

SEE ALSO: Juventus Vs Atletico Madrid UCL 12 March Preview

Team News

Manchester City: Fernandinho (muscle), Otamendi (suspension) Bravo (hamstring), De Bruyne (hamstring), Stones (muscular)

Schalke 04 would be without the services of Daniele Caligiuri and Alessandro Schopf who remain on the sidelines due to injuries.

Possible Starting Line-Up

Manchester City

Ederson; Zinchenko, Laporte, Kompany, Walker; Bernardo, Gundogan, D. Silva; Sane, Aguero, Sterling.

Schalke 04

Fahrmann; Nastasic, Sane, Stambouli; Serdar, McKennie, Bentaleb, Mendyl; Embolo, Skrzybski; Burgstaller