Man City vs Club Brugge prediction: Erling Haaland to fire City through to Champions League play-offs | OneFootball

Manchester City have to win their final Champions League match, at home to Club Brugge on Wednesday or face the very real prospect of crashing out of the competition at the first hurdle (kick-off 8pm, TNT Sports and Discovery+).

They need to secure a top 24 place to reach the play-offs and they currently sit 25th out of 36 teams, with just two wins from their seven matches played, while Brugge are 20th with three more points.

After playing out a goalless draw with Inter Milan in their opening match they backed it up with wins over Slovan Bratislava and Sparta Prague before enduring their worst run of form since manager Pep Guardiola arrived.

They won just once in 13 games and lost nine, including a 4-1 defeat at Sporting and a 2-0 defeat at Juventus. They also drew 3-3 with Feyenoord despite leading 3-0 with just 20 minutes remaining and most recently lost 4-2 at Paris St-Germain after leading 2-0.

That defeat in Paris was City’s only loss in their last eight as they start to get back to their best and despite that form, they moved back into the top four in the Premier League with a 3-1 win over Chelsea on Saturday.

In stark contrast to City, Wednesday’s opponents have lost just six times in 35 games and are unbeaten in their last 20, since going down 3-1 away at AC Milan in the Champions League in October.

Trailing 1-0, Raphael Onyedika was sent off after just 40 minutes and that proved costly as they lost their second Champions League match of the season.

They lost their opening match against Borussia Dortmund 3-0 before winning 1-0 at Sturm Graz, they’ve also beaten Aston Villa and Sporting and drawn with Celtic and Juventus, so they won’t be a pushover for City.

They only need a point to secure their play-off place so they could sit back and play for a draw which could be a dangerous approach.

City to secure their play-off place

The two sides have only met twice before, in the group stages of the 2021-22 Champions League, and City dominated on both occasions.

They won 5-1 in Belgium, with Riyad Mahrez scoring twice, and they followed it up with a 4-1 win at the Etihad with Mahrez and Phil Foden among the scorers for City while John Stones put through his own net for the visitors.

Brugge have never won away to English opposition in 14 previous attempts, drawing two and losing 12 including three times against Manchester United.

City, on the other hand, are unbeaten in their last 33 Champions League matches at the Etihad, winning 28 and drawing five including their last three.

Following defeat in Paris a week ago Guardiola’s side have now dropped eight points from winning positions in the competition this season, with only RB Leipzig (9) losing more and surely it can’t happen again, can it?

Football betting sites have City as outright favourites for the tie at 2/11, with Brugge at 16/1 and a draw 15/2 and City are still sixth favourites to win the Champions League in May.

They have conceded in nine of their last 12 matches, while Brugge have failed to score in just one of their last 26 matches and that was last time out in this competition against Juventus.

Erling Haaland has scored eight goals in four Champions League appearances against Belgian opponents so far.

He scored four goals in two games against Genk while with RB Salzburg and then a brace in each game against Club Brugge while with Borussia Dortmund - averaging a goal every 33 minutes.

So far this season the striker, who recently signed a nine-and-a-half-year extension to his contract, has scored 24 goals in 31 games, including six in his last six games.

Betting sites are offering 23/10 on him scoring first on Wednesday or 11/20 on him scoring anytime. You can also get 9/4 on him scoring two or more, which he has achieved seven times in the competition since signing for City in June 2022.

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