Manchester City vs Olympique Lyonnais 20/09/18

20 September 2018

The Champions League Group F opener between Manchester City and Olympique Lyonnais scheduled to take place at the Etihad Stadium will see the two sides with considerably different goals facing-off against each other.

A 2-0 triumph over Chelsea in the FA Community Shield has helped the Citizens enter the defending campaign highly motivated, which was quite evident at the Emirates Stadium on the opening Premier League matchday, where Arsenal got outclassed by Pep Guardiola’s players, who walked away with a 2-0 win. The two successes against Fulham and Newcastle United were preceded by a 1-1 draw with Wolves and an outstanding 6-1 home victory over Huddersfield, but Guardiola’s prime objective is lifting the Champions League title for the first time since leaving Barcelona’s ranks.

An encounter with the Premier League heavyweights will hardly help Les Gones to overcome a severe crisis they’ve stuck in since the start of the season. Although Bruno Génésio’s side opened the new campaign with a comfortable 2-0 win over Amiens at home, the two narrow 1-0 defeats to Reims and Nice along with a frustrating 2-2 draw with Caen last weekend had a quite negative impact on the squad that suffers a roaring pressure from the fans.

Claudio Bravo, Eliaquim Mangala, Danilo, and Kevin De Bruyne are set to skip the match due to various injuries, while Amine Gouiri and Fernando Marcal won’t be playing for the visitors.