UCL Preview: Can Copenhagen cause an upset at Etihad?

Although Jacob Neestrup’s men suffered a 2-0 defeat to Danish Superliga title rivals FC Midtjylland, they will be facing Manchester City, hoping to overturn the result and progress to the next round of the UEFA Champions League, even as an underdog.

Also winless in their previous three (one draw, two losses), Wednesday’s match will be just their fourth in the Champions League knockout stages. However, the Danish champions would not want to lack off as they have the three players to have applied the most pressures in the Champions League this season; Mohamed Elyounoussi (683), Viktor Claesson (651) and Elias Achouri (628).

They would be hoping to replicate their success against City’s neighbour, Manchester United, who they met at they group stage, losing the first leg and coming back to shock United in the second leg, on Pep *PREDICTION*g team.

Manchester City will be hoping to join an exclusive list, having won their last nine games in the Champions League in a run, spanning from the 2022-23 to the 2023-24 campaigns.

Only Real Madrid and Bayern Munich have attained the double figure winning streaks, (a run of 10 ending in February 2015) and Bayern (a 15-match streak in November 2020 respectively.

At home ground, City have scored at least three goals in each of their last eight Champions League games, joining the list of Bayern in 2016, Madrid in 1964 and Benfica in 1962. No team has ever achieved the feat in nine straight games.

Pep Guardiola’s team will also be making another club history with only one goal as they have scored in each of their last 55 home matches across all competitions, matching their club-record run set between January 2012 and January 2014.

However, Copenhagen have avoided defeat in two of their three away Champions League games this season, earning draws with Galatasaray (2-2) and Bayern (0-0), though they were beaten on their last trip to Manchester, going down 1-0 to United at Old Trafford in October.

Coming from the weekend victory over Manchester United, City would be seeing this tie as an easy one, having won the first leg at Denmark.

Phil Foden and Erling Haaland will also be hoping to replicate their goal scoring form as
Haaland will also be hoping to meet up with Kylian Mbappe (who scored two last night to increase his tally to seven) on the top scoring chart. Haaland has five goals already, all coming from the group stage.

Manchester City vs Copenhagen Head-to-Head

Manchester City and Copenhagen have met on five occasions in European Competitions, with City been unbeaten, winning three and drawing two.

The teams’ last meeting at the Etihad Stadium was a group-stage clash in October 2022, with Erling Haaland scoring twice in a 5-0 win for the Citizens.

However, Copenhagen are winless in seven away games against English opponents, drawing two and losing five. They have also failed to score a single goal on their last four trips to England, in the UEFA Champions League.

PREDICTION

Manchester City 4 vs 0 Copenhagen