Manchester City vs Schalke 04 13/03/19

13 March 2019

Manchester City and Schalke 04 go head-to-head at the Etihad Stadium in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie as the visitors face a difficult task of overturning a 3-2 loss from the first leg.

Although the hosts don’t enjoy much of success against German teams (W5, D2, L6), they are huge favorites to advance to their third Champions League quarter-finals. After regaining the top spot in the Premier League, the reigning English holders come into this encounter motivated to stretch a nine-game winning streak across all competitions. Not only Manchester City scored 2+ match goals in eight games in that period, but they have also preserved a clean slate six times. Another impressive fact is they Pep Guardiola’s men bagged over 1.5 goals per match in 21 of 23 home clashes this season, allowing 2+ match goals only twice in the process. However, one of City’s two defeats has come in the Champions League, as Olympique Lyonnais outplayed the Citizens 2-1 on the opening matchday.

On the other hand, the visitors go into this encounter off the back of a four-game losing streak during which they’ve conceded 14 goals while scoring four. Another disappointing fact for the Bundesliga giants is that they’ve pulled off just one triumph on one of their previous ten road trips (W1, D3, L6), netting over 1.5 goals per match only three times along the way. Immense problems in the final third have seen the Miners failed to find the back of the net three times in their last five games across all competitions. But, Domenico Tedesco’s main concern is that his players have struggled to keep a clean slate in 11 consecutive away races, allowing 3+ match goals in the last three.