Brugge Club Brugge

Man City Manchester City

Men's Team

‘He is extraordinary’ – Pep salutes Bernardo

Team news

Making way are Raheem Sterling, Nathan Ake, Zack Steffen and John Stones.

City: Ederson, Walker, Cancelo, Dias (c), Laporte, Rodrigo, De Bruyne, Bernardo, Grealish, Mahrez, Foden

Substitutes: Steffen, Carson, Ake, Sterling,  Gundogan, Jesus,  Zinchenko, Fernandinho,  Palmer

Club Brugge: Mignolet, Mata, Hendry, Nsoki, Sobol, Balanta, Rits, Vanaken, Sowah, Lang, De Ketelaere

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Formation 

It’s a tried and tested 4-3-3 for City against Brugge.

Dias and Laporte resume their central defensive partnership, flanked by Walker on the right and Joao Cancelo on the left.

Rodrigo will pin the midfield trio that also includes Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo.

Up front, Grealish is likely to play on the left and Riyad Mahrez on the right with Phil Foden as a false No.9 – though Foden and Grealish could just as easily swap positions.

City will look to dominate possession and pin the attack-minded hosts  - who have scored in every game they’ve played this season - back as much as possible.

When and where

Our Matchday Three trip to the Jan Breydelstadion in Belgium gets under way on Tuesday 19 October, with kick-off scheduled for 17:45 (UK).

The match - the first competitive meeting between the two sides - will be available to watch on BT Sport in the UK, while fans living around the globe can find out how they can tune in via our global TV listings at the foot of this page, courtesy of livesoccertv.com.

You can follow minute-by-minute updates in our Matchday Centre with live commentary on mancity.com and the Man City App from 15:45, as well as on Twitter: @ManCity.

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You can also tune in to our Matchday Live show, which begins one hour before kick-off on all of our digital platforms, including our Matchday Centre, for half-time and full-time analysis in addition to all of the pre-match build-up.

Keep across mancity.com and our official app for a match report and the thoughts of Pep Guardiola and a player following the final whistle.

Highlights will be available from midnight and a longer highlights package and Full Match Replay for CITY+ subscribers will be available from midnight on Thursday.

Next Fixture

All fixtures

Tue 19 Oct

UEFA Youth League

Brugge

12:30

BST

Man City

Matchday Live

Former City defenders Richard Dunne and Andy Morrison line up as our special guests for Tuesday’s Matchday Live show.

The pair - both fan favourites - clocked exactly 400 appearances between them for City. Former captain Dunne remains the only player in City’s history to win our Player of the Year award four times, having scooped the prize in consecutive years between 2004 and 2008.

Our Matchday Live guests will offer their expert insight from 16:30, previewing our clash with the Belgian outfit as well as discussing a number of City-related topics.

Dunne and Morrison, alongside presenter Natalie Pike, then return for a quick half-time debrief before a detailed full-time assessment of City’s performance including, time permitting, the post-match thoughts of Pep Guardiola and a player.

Audience input is always encouraged on Matchday Live and our special guests will answer a number of viewer questions throughout the show.

To get in touch and have your say, use the hashtag #CityMatchdayLive or send a WhatsApp message to +447537186538.

Group A standings

City sit third in Group A after two games with one win and one defeat. PSG top the group with four points - ahead of Brugge on goal difference - while RB Leipzig have suffered two defeats.

RESULTS

Matchday One: City 6-3 RB Leipzig, Club Brugge 1-1 PSG
Matchday Two: PSG 2-0 City, RB Leipzig 1-2 Club Brugge

FIXTURES

Matchday Three (Tues 19 Oct)
Club Brugge v City (17:45), PSG v RB Leipzig (20:00)

Matchday Four (Weds 3 Nov)
City v Club Brugge (20:00). RB Leipzig v PSG (20:00)

Matchday Five (Weds 24 Nov)
City v PSG (20:00), Club Brugge v RB Leipzig (20:00)

Matchday Six (Tues 7 Dec)
RB Leipzig v City (17:45), PSG v Club Brugge (17:45)

		Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Form
19		Liverpool Liverpool	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
20		Manchester City Man City	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
21		Manchester United Man United	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Form guide

City are unbeaten in all bar one of our last ten games in all competitions - a 2-0 Champions League reverse at the hands of PSG on Matchday Two - and have triumphed in three of our last five.

Brugge sit second in the Jupiler Pro League with 22 points from their opening 11 matches and are unbeaten in their last five, winning three. The Belgian Super Cup winners defeated KV Kortrijk 2-0 on Friday night and have won six of their league games, drawing four and losing one.

Last time out

Goals from Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne gave City a deserved victory over Burnley at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

Pep Guardiola’s side were superior throughout the contest and opened the scoring in the 12th minute when Nick Pope pushed Phil Foden’s drive from the edge of the area into the path of Bernardo, who lashed home from two yards.

The Clarets had lost 5-0 on each of their last four visits to the Etihad, and the early goal suggested we might record another convincing victory, but our trademark cutting edge deserted us until De Bruyne struck 20 minutes from time.

Men's Team

Sinclair: ‘Little leaf’ Bernardo sets the standard

Match officials

Referee: István Kovács ROU
Assistant referees: Vasile Florin Marinescu ROU, Ovidiu Artene ROU
Fourth official: Marian Alexandru Barbu ROU
Video Assistant Referee: Paolo Valeri ITA
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Fedayi San SUI

Stats

● This will be our first UEFA Champions League game against a Belgian side. We have lost just one of our last ten games in the competition when facing teams from a specific nation for the first time (W7 D2), losing 0-3 vs Liverpool (England) in 2018.

● City have won five of our six European matches against Belgian opponents, losing the other 2-0 against Standard Liège in November 1978 in the UEFA Cup. Our last match against a side from Belgium came in October 2003 against KSC Lokeren - a 1-0 away win in UEFA Cup with a goal from Nicolas Anelka.

● The Premier League Champions have picked up eight wins from our last 11 away UEFA Champions League matches (D2 L1), netting 2+ goals in seven of those eight victories.

● As a manager, Pep Guardiola has only lost consecutive away games in the competition once previously, with those two games coming in the 2014-15 season in charge of Bayern Munich (1-3 v FC Porto and 0-3 v Barcelona).

● In all European competitions, Club Brugge are winless in 12 matches against English opponents (D3 L9) since beating Chelsea 1-0 in the Cup Winners’ Cup in February 1995.

● The Belgian side are unbeaten in their last four Champions League group stage games (W2 D2), picking up eight points in the process. This is their best points haul over a run of four games in the competition in their history - only once have they gone five consecutive games without defeat in the tournament, during a run of six ending in October 2019 (W1 D5).

● Brugge are one of only three teams to have named the same starting XI in their two Champions League games this season (with Sheriff Tiraspol and Ajax), while the Belgian side have also made fewer substitutions than anyone else so far (five).

● Since the start of last season, Phil Foden has been involved in more goal-ending sequences of play than any other City player in the Champions League (10). In this period, the only individuals to have been involved in more in the competition overall are Erling Haaland (13) and Kylian Mbappé (11).

● Riyad Mahrez made his Champions League debut against Club Brugge in September 2016 in an away group match, scoring twice for Leicester City. He also netted once in Leicester’s home group match against them, with three goals his joint-most against an opponent in the competition (also three vs PSG).

● Hans Vanaken has scored in each of his last four Champions League appearances for Club Brugge - the longest run of netting in consecutive outings by a Belgian player in the competition’s history.

TV Listings