Rayan Ait-Nouri, who has been away with Algeria at the Africa Cup of Nations, comes in for his first start since the end of November.
Nico O’Reilly, Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki also come into the side with Nathan Ake, Bernardo Silva, Antoine Semenyo and Jeremy Doku dropping out.
Phil Foden also retains his place and will play with protection after breaking a bone in his hand in Saturday’s Manchester derby defeat.
January signings Semenyo and Marc Guéhi are not yet eligible to play in the Champions League but clubs can register three new players at the start of the knockout phase.
TEAMS
BODO/GLIMT XI: Haikin, Sjovold, Bjortuft, Gundersen, Bjorkan, Berg, Evjen, Brunstad Fet, Blomberg, Hauge, Hogh.
Subs: Faye Lund, Sjong, Nielsen, Aleesami, Bech Riisnaes, Dybvik Maatta, Klynge, Saltnes, Auklend, Helmersen, Chooly
CITY XI: Donnarumma, Lewis, Khusanov, Alleyne, Ait-Nouri, Rodri (C), Reijnders, O’Reilly, Foden, Cherki, Haaland.
Subs: Trafford, Bettinelli, Ake, Marmoush, Doku, Gray, Mukasa, Noble, Mfuni, T. Samba
TACTICS AND FORMATION
City are likely to line up in a 4-3-3 but Guardiola has options with exactly where he places his personnel.
Max Alleyne and Abdukodir Khusanov are likely to continue as centre-backs but Rico Lewis, Ait-Nouri and Nico O’Reilly could play at full-back or in midfield.
Rodri will play in the holding midfield role and Erling Haaland as the striker, but there is plenty of flexibility in how the rest of the side fits together.
Football’s coming home!
It’s understandable that Norwegian hero Haaland is the focus of the attention as he returns to his homeland.
He scored 16 goals in eight World Cup qualifiers as Norway secured a place at this summer’s tournament, ending a 28-year wait.
Of course our number nine is a City star too and he could become the first Norwegian to score a goal against a Norwegian side in the competition here.
Haaland has netted more goals in the Champions League (55 in 54 games) than all Norwegian teams combined this century (48 in 42 games).
He has also scored in each of his last six Champions League starts. Only one player has ever had a longer run for an English club in the competition, with Ruud van Nistelrooy scoring in eight in a row for Manchester United, between September 2002 and April 2003.
HOW IT STANDS
For those of us still getting used to the new Champions League format in its second season, the first target is finishing in the top-eight to avoid a two-legged play-off for the last-16.
City are currently fourth, having won four of our six opening matches in 2025, with one draw and a defeat.
Bodo/Glimt, meanwhile, are in 32nd place and will be eliminated with a defeat, although a draw will essentially see them out of the competition.
A win would see us move up to second place ahead of all the other sides playing, but with so much movement between now and the final kick of the league phase, it’s easiest to just think that we need to win both of our remaining games!
New faces
City have options on the bench with the added bonus of Omar Marmoush returning from AFCON.
But there’s also some fresh exciting Academy players in the substitutes list as an option for Guardiola.
Charlie Gray, Divine Mukasa and Stephen Mfuni have all made their first team bows already.
They are joined by EDS defender and Youth Cup winner Kian Noble and City Under-18s forward Tyrone Samba.
Match stats and milestones
Bodo/Glimt are winless in their six meetings with English sides in European competition although they did manage to avoid defeat in the only one to take place in the UEFA Champions League – a 2-2 with Tottenham earlier this season.
This will be City’s first ever game against a Norwegian opponent. None of the last nine English sides to face a Norwegian team away from home in major European competition have lost, with Chelsea in October 2002 the last to lose there.
Bodo/Glimt have conceded at least two goals in five of their six games against English sides in major European competition (14 in total), including in each of the last four.
After losing our final four away games of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League, City are unbeaten on the road in the current edition. Pep Guardiola could win his 25th away game in charge in the competition with City, something only two other managers have done with one side (39 for Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, 30 for Arsene Wenger at Arsenal).
Bodo/Glimt have the highest xG against (17.2) of any side in the UEFA Champions League this season. The Norwegian side have also conceded 3+ xG in a match on the most occasions in the competition this term, doing so in four out of their six games.
City have completed 85.9% of their passes under high-intensity pressure in the UEFA Champions League this season; the highest percentage of any team. Indeed, they also have the best overall pass completion rate in the current edition (91%).
Bodo/Glimt’s Jens Petter Hauge is one of only two players with 15+ completed dribbles (23) and 15+ chances created (15) in the UEFA Champions League this season, along with Bayern Munich’s Michael Olise.
Savinho (4.4) and Jeremy Doku (4.4) are both averaging 4+ completed dribbles per 90 in the UEFA Champions League this season; the first time City have had multiple players do so in a single campaign (min. 300 minutes played) since 2017-18, through Raheem Sterling (4.4) and Leroy Sané (4.1).
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