Sporting CP vs Manchester City (UEFA Champions League): Match Preview, Team News, Head to Head, How To Watch | OneFootball

Manchester City travel to Lisbon to face Sporting CP in a bid to extend their unbeaten start to the UEFA Champions League campaign despite their recent slip-ups.

Pep Guardiola and his players come into this clash on a run of two straight defeats, having recently experienced tough fixtures away to Tottenham Hotspur in the Carabao Cup fourth round and at Bournemouth.

Normally, many would expect a trip to the south coast to be a routine three points for Pep Guardiola’s reigning Premier League champions, but after the Cherries won against Arsenal it proved to be a tough ask for City too.

Coming into the contest, Manchester City would have been delighted to see the return of defenders Kyle Walker and Manuel Akanji in the starting eleven, alongside substitute Jérémy Doku.

Unfortunately, the Englishman had a night to forget as he struggled across the 90 minutes, and perhaps it was too soon for the right-back to return but Manchester City fans will be hoping he can return to his best.

Tuesday night’s match against Sporting proves to be an interesting clash. Away in Portugal, City are up against an in-form team whose manager has agreed to join the red half of Manchester as soon as next week.

Rúben Amorim has led his side to an unbeaten start to the season, winning 10 straight games in their domestic competition and have matched Manchester City’s points tally in the Champions League thus far.

For City, though, Matheus Nunes’ performances in the last month have been delightful, having initially struggled at the club. The Portuguese will return to the side that gave him a platform to showcase his abilities, before moving to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Despite several individual poor performances across the board for City, last time out against Bournemouth, Nunes was still Manchester City’s main danger-man across his time on the pitch as has been the case in his last few appearances

The Portuguese side ran riot in their latest outing, as they defeated Estrela Amadora 5-1 at home with prolific frontman Viktor Gyökeres netting four goals of his own. The former Coventry City forward has consistently showcased his goalscoring prowess since moving to Portugal and City would do well to limit his chances.

As Pep Guardiola’s side try to avoid a third successive defeat on the bounce across competitions, here is everything you need to know ahead of the encounter at Estádio José Alvalade!

Match Details

Manchester City take on Sporting CP on Monday 4th November at Estádio José Alvalade, with kick-off scheduled for 20:00 GMT.

Match Officials

40-year-old German official Daniel Siebert will take charge of the contest between Sporting CP and Manchester City in Portugal.

You can check out the all-German officiating team here!

Team News

Pep Guardiola was able to call upon Manuel Akanji and Kyle Walker in the last match, and although the result wasn’t what Manchester City fans would have been hoping for, it will be important to have them back for the next few days before the international break.

Jérémy Doku also made a return to the bench against Bournemouth, although it remains to be seen whether Manchester City’s Catalan boss will risk starting the Belgian following his recent return to action.

The 22-year-old’s one-versus-one ability is second to none within the game, and it may prove to be vital should Manchester City find themselves in a scenario in which they are once again chasing a goal.

Speaking during his pre-match press conference, Pep Guardiola confirmed that Erling Haaland is “fine” despite footage from various broadcasters claiming an injury scare in Manchester City training on Monday.

Winger Jack Grealish is likely to miss out as his injury proves to be more serious than initially thought. Thankfully, Matheus Nunes has stepped up in his absence so the impact of his absence has been dampened slightly.

Unfortunately, City have an additional two injuries to deal with as defenders Rúben Dias and John Stones will not be available for the foreseeable future. The latter is suffering with a foot problem and his manager said he doesn’t know if he’ll be available for the next two games.

Similarly, Ruben Dias is suffering from an unnamed muscular issue, which typically takes several weeks, and it is not expected that he returns until at least after the upcoming November international break.

Rodri and Oscar Bobb will continue to play no part as they continue their respective recoveries from serious injuries earlier this season.

For the hosts Sporting CP, as it stands Ruben Amorim will currently have two players set to miss out as Portuguese duo Nuno Santos and Eduardo Quaresma will not feature, with Gonçalo Inácio also ruled out.

Head To Head

These giants of their respective countries have faced off a total of four times, and twice in two different competitions.

In 2012, Sporting progressed via the now-defunct away goals rule in the UEFA Europa League against Manchester City, having won 1-0 in the home leg before losing 3-2 at the Etihad Stadium.

More recently, the two sides faced each other in the UEFA Champions League two years ago, as Pep Guardiola’s team got the job done in Portugal as they romped to a 0-5 win before playing out a stalemate in England featuring an appearance for Scott Carson.

Statistics

Manchester City have lost just one of their 10 major European matches against Portuguese opposition (W6, D3), although it was against Sporting CP in March 2012. In those 10 games, City have kept six clean sheets, including one in each of their last three.

After losing each of their first five matches against English sides in the UEFA Champions League, Sporting CP have gone unbeaten in each of the last three (W1, D2). Indeed, they won their last home match in the competition against an English opponent, beating Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 in September 2022.

Sporting CP are unbeaten in the UEFA Champions League this season, winning twice and drawing one. If they can avoid defeat against Manchester City, they will equal their longest ever unbeaten run in the European Cup/Champions League (four games between September 1982 – March 1983).

Erling Haaland has been involved in 49 goals in 42 games in the UEFA Champions League. If he contributes in this match, he will become the fastest player to hit 50 goal contributions in the competition’s history (43 games).

Sporting CP won their first European meeting with Man City in March 2012 in the UEFA Europa League, but are winless in their last three against them (D1, L2).

Manchester City have only lost one of their previous five away trips to face Portuguese opponents in European competition (W2, D2), and are unbeaten there in UEFA Champions League matches: 0-0 vs FC Porto in December 2020, and 5-0 vs Sporting CP in February 2022.

How To Watch

The clash between Sporting CP and Manchester City will aired live on TNT Sports 1 for those in the UK. If you don’t have access to televised coverage, you can follow the match via radio on TalkSport or BBC Radio Manchester.

For fans living in the United States, as always Paramount+ will be the provider of coverage.

You can find full global TV listings for the matchday four encounter in the UEFA Champions League HERE!

City Xtra will have full live coverage available on our X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram channels throughout matchday, with content also provided on cityxtra.co.uk and YouTube!