John Stones, Bernardo, Joao Cancelo and Ilkay Gundogan are also recalled.
MATCHDAY CENTRE - TUNE IN NOW!
Teams
City: Ederson, Walker, Cancelo, Dias, Stones, Rodrigo, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Bernardo, Mahrez, Foden
Subs: Steffen, Trafford, Ake, Sterling, Jesus, Aguero, Zinchenko, Laporte, Torres, Mendy, Fernandinho, Garcia
Dortmund:
Probable formation: 4-3-3
With no recognised striker in the starting XI, we will have to wait until the game begins to figure out one or two positions.
Phil Foden, Kevin De Bruyne or Bernardo could all take on the false No.9 - it will be fascinating to find out what the blueprint is!
And then there is leading scorer Ilkay Gundogan to consider...
City need to stop the goal machine
Erling Braut Haaland is quite rightly regarded as the most exciting striker in Europe at present.
The 20 year-old has a phenomenal record for Borussia Dortmund and his potential is huge – but City must find a way of stopping the Norwegian goal-machine.
Dortmund rely heavily on Haaland’s goals so our defenders will know that if they can keep him quiet over two legs, City will have a great chance of progressing to the semi-final stage of the Champions League.
Haaland’s explosive talent in the box means that Dortmund are quite capable of getting one or more away goals to take back to Germany – should the opportunities fall his way.
If Haaland has a quiet game, our defence will have done its job – and that means cutting off as many supply lines as possible, too.
Stats and facts
- City are in the quarter-finals for the fourth successive season but have only ever reached the semi-finals once in our Champions League history (2015/16). Our last three campaigns have all ended at this stage. This is our tenth UEFA Champions League campaign – we have been involved every season since 2011/12.
- City have kept more clean sheets (28) and conceded fewer goals (26) in all competitions this season than any other side in Europe’s top five leagues.
- It is 706 minutes since City conceded a UEFA Champions League goal – Luis Díaz’s 14th-minute opener for Porto on Matchday 1. The record for the competition, set by Arsenal in 2005/06, is 995 minutes, with City now second in the all-time rankings having moved above Juventus (690 minutes).
- City have scored 52 goals in our last 21 UEFA Champions League matches; over the last three seasons, our record is W20 D4 L3 with 68 goals scored and 22 conceded. Guardiola‘s team are unbeaten in 12 home European matches (W11 D1) since a 2-1 loss against Lyon on Matchday 1 in 2018/19.
- City are on a six-game winning run, home and away, against German clubs – including this season’s round of 16. The second leg against Monchengladbach this season was our sixth successive home victory against Bundesliga teams; a 3-1 defeat by Bayern in 2013 is our sole loss to German opposition in Manchester (W8 D2).
- İlkay Gündoğan has scored ten goals in 14 Premier League appearances in 2021 and has found the net in three of his last four City appearances in all competitions, including the last two; he did not feature at the weekend.
- Dortmund are in the last eight for the first time since 2017 and have lost their last two UEFA Champions League quarter-finals. Overall, they have triumphed in the last eight three times out of six.
- Second in the Bundesliga behind Bayern for the second season running in 2019/20, this is Dortmund’s 15th UEFA Champions League campaign; they were winners in 1997, and runners-up in 2013.
- Dortmund have won only three of their last 12 knockout phase matches in UEFA competition (D3 L6). BVB have won nine of their last 15 European matches (D2 L4), all four defeats coming away from home.
- Dortmund have lost their last five games against Premier League opponents. They have lost on four of their last five trips to England and eight of their 13 games away to English clubs overall (W4 D1).
- Erling Haaland (son of former City player Alfe-Inge) now has 34 goals in 37 league appearances for Dortmund. The striker became the first Bundesliga player to score 25 goals in his first 25 matches when he was on target twice in a 3-1 win in Leipzig.
- Haaland, who has found the net in all six of his 2020/21 UEFA Champions League appearances having sat out Matchdays 5 and 6, is the leading scorer in this season’s competition with ten goals.
- Kevin De Bruyne scored in Wolfsburg’s 3-1 win against Dortmund in the German Cup final on 30 May 2015, having also scored away against them in a 2-2 Bundesliga draw on 17 December 2014.
