Eric Garcia has been recalled to the City starting XI at the expense of Phil Foden who drops to the bench.

Pep Guardiola looks set to tweak his formation against Lyon, no doubt taking into account last season’s results against the French side.

Line-ups

City:

Ederson, Walker, Cancelo, Laporte, Garcia, Fernandinho (c), Rodrigo, Gundogan, De Bruyne, Sterling, Jesus

Subs: Bravo, Stones, Zinchenko, Bernardo, D Silva, Mendy, Mahrez, Otamendi, Foden, Doyle, Bernabe, Palmer

Lyon:

Lopes, Denayer, Marcelo, Marcal, Dubois, Cornet, Caqueret, Guimaraes, Aouar, Toko Ekambi, Depay

POSSIBLE Formation & TACTICS

It’s hard to see anything other than a 3-5-2 formation on paper.

Eric Garcia, Aymeric Laporte and Fernandinho look likely to form a three-strong central defensive unit, giving Kyle Walker and Joao Cancelo greater freedom to get forward own the flanks.

That will leave Rodrigo as the anchor-man, with Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan behind forwards Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling.

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The front pair could also drift wide and De Bruyne effectively slot in the false nine role as and when, if City are looking to tactically bamboozle Lyon.

Lyon: Compact and full of running

Lyon will look to stifle City going forward with a fairly compact formation.

They will be happy for City to boss possession but will look to break quickly if and when they win the ball back.

Against Juventus the possession split was 60%-40% in the Italians’ favour, with Lyon conceding just four shots on target.

Rudi Garcia is fashioning a young side who are far from the finished article, but they will be full of confidence after seeing off Cristiano Ronaldo and company – plus they will take heart in the two group stage clashes against City last season where they triumphed 2-1 at the Etihad and drew 2-2 in France.

Nabil Fekir has since left the club, but Maxwel Cornet – scorer of three of Lyon’s four goals against City – is very much still a part of his team.

Skipper Memphis Depay is only in his third competitive game since returning from an eight-month lay-off with injury and has become the heart and soul of the side.

Depay and Moussa Dembele represent a handful for any defence and City’s defence will need to be vigilant and not present either with any opportunities/

Stats and facts

  • This is only the third competitive fixture between the two teams, who played each other for the first time in the 2018/19 group stage.
  • In that campaign, Lyon won 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium, which is City’s last home defeat in the competition.  Bernardo Silva scored after Maxwel Cornet and Nabil Fekir had put the visitors two goals up.
  • In the away fixture, City levelled twice to draw 2-2. Aymeric Laporte and Sergio Aguero scored with Cornet on target for the hosts.
  • This will be Raheem Sterling‘s  50th Champions League appearance in the competition
  • David Silva will play in his 100th UEFA club competition match when he next features. Kyle Walker made his 50th appearance in the round of 16 second leg
  • We have won six of our last seven matches in all competitions (L1), scoring 23 goals and conceding only four.
  • City’s record in Champions League quarter-finals is: W1 L2. We beat PSG in 2015/16, but lost to Liverpool (2017/18) and Tottenham Hotspur (2018/19).
  • This is our ninth Champions League campaign and seventh consecutive appearance in the knockout stage.
  • Since losing to Lyon on Matchday 1 of the 2018/19 season, our record is W13 D3 L1 with 49 goals scored and 16 conceded.
  • We have won 14 of our last 23 European matches, home and away, losing six.
  • City’s record against French clubs is W2 D3 L2, with 12 goals both scored and conceded.
  • City’s record in two UEFA penalty shoot-outs is W2 L0: 4-2 v Midtjylland, 2008/09 UEFA Cup second qualifying round. 4-3 v Aalborg, 2008/09 UEFA Cup round of 16.
  • This is Guardiola‘s tenth UEFA Champions League quarter-final, and his third with City. He reached the same number with Bayern between 2014 and 2016 and four while Barcelona coach from 2008 to 2012.

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