Champions League: City out to end European hoodoo

A decade on from his final season as Barcelona manager and Pep Guardiola is still waiting to win the Champions League with another club.

His three years at Bayern Munich produced three semi-final appearances. The Catalan tactician finally reached another final with Manchester City last term, but some puzzling selection decisions against Chelsea led to a 1-0 defeat by a team that had finished 17 points below City in the Premier League.

Guardiola’s side are the Smarkets favourites to win this year’s competition, with our traders giving them a 26% chance of victory. It remains to be seen whether City can finally end their Champions League hoodoo, but a last-16 tie against Sporting CP should be negotiated with a minimum of fuss.

Three of City’s last four Premier League matches have been wins to nil, so consider backing another victory and clean sheet here – that bet is offered at an attractive price of 2.12.

City should cruise to victory in first leg

Sporting CP are not a bad side. They qualified for the knockout stage ahead of Borussia Dortmund, thanks in large part to an impressive 3-1 victory over Erling Haaland and co. in November. They are second in the Primeira Liga and have won nine of their 11 home matches this season.

Yet it is not unfair to say that City would have been delighted with this draw. Their comfortable position at the summit of the Premier League standings allowed Guardiola to rest several key players in the 4-0 victory over Norwich City on Saturday. City’s strongest side should have far too much quality for Sporting, who have kept only two clean sheets in their last seven league outings.

Guardiola will want to see his team establish a significant first-leg lead in order to take the pressure off the return fixture, which comes just days after the Manchester derby at the Etihad Stadium. City have the ability to do just that, so back them to win both halves at 2.72.

Sterling a good pick to find the net

Raheem Sterling found himself out of the City team earlier this season, but he has played his way back into Guardiola’s good books in recent months. The England international was the hat-trick hero against Norwich at the weekend, taking his tally for the season to 10 goals in 21 Premier League matches.

Sterling is likely to start again on Tuesday, and his speed, trickery and astute positional sense will cause Sporting problems.

He will be one of several attacking threats the Portuguese outfit will have to contend with, and the likes of Riyad Mahrez and Phil Foden could easily find the back of the net too. But with his confidence high and a generous price of 5.4 available, it would not be a surprise to see Sterling score the opening goal.

Recommended bets

Manchester City to win to nil at 2.12

Manchester City to win both halves at 2.72

Raheem Sterling to score first at 5.4