Premier League champions Manchester City are looking to secure their second consecutive victory in UEFA Champions League Group C when they host Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday evening. These two teams have never met before in an European competition, and Manchester City have never met any team from Croatia before. Dinamo Zagreb have played against English teams eleven times so far and have won just once, 2-1 against Arsenal in the UEFA Europa League in 2015.
Manchester City had a dominant start to their UEFA Champions League campaign, they defeated Shakhtar Donetsk 3-0 in Ukraine and they seem ready to dominate the group and most likely finish with six wins out of six matches. Three days after that win they demolished Watford 8-0 in the Premier League and last week they recorded a 3-1 victory at Everton. Aymeric Laporte, Leroy Sane and John Stones are still out injured, while Kevin De Bruyne might not be risked after having missed training on Monday.
Dinamo Zagreb had a very surprising start to their life in Group D, they hammered Serie A side Atalanta 4-0 in the Croatian capital, showing that they are not destined for last place in this group. After that great result they suffered a setback in the domestic league, losing 1-0 at Varazdin, but then recovered with a 7-0 victory in the Croatian Cup and a 4-0 league win at Lokomotiva Zagreb last weekend. The visitors have a clean bill of health before Tuesday's match.
Probable line-ups:
Man City: Ederson - Cancelo, Otamendi, Fernandinho, Mendy - B. Silva, Rodrigo, D. Silva - Mahrez, Aguero, Sterling
Dinamo: Livakovic - Theophile-Catherine, Dilaver, Peric - Stojanovic, Moro, Ademi, Leovac - Orsic, Petkovic, Olmo
My prediction:
Dinamo Zagreb are not under much pressure after having secured a great result against Atalanta, but they will have to be careful, otherwise they might end up on the wrong side of a historic score line. Manchester City will surely manage to score a few goals, the question is how many. I think the home side will win 5-1.
Here are the odds for the match at NetBet:
Man City win - 1.08
Draw - 12.25
Dinamo - 29.75
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