Manchester City heads to Dinamo Zagreb for their final UEFA Champions League group stage match on Tuesday 10 December at Stadion Maksimir. Already through to the knockout round, as winners of Group C, this will be a low stress affair for Pep Guardiola’s side.
Out of the running now for defending their back-to-back Premier league titles, City can now turn their focus towards trying to win Europe’s greatest tournament this season. They can worry about that later, as this match won’t have too much consequence on that. In looking to the team news for this one, their opponents have just one injury issue, Sandro Kulenovic, who is out until the new year with a broken foot.
Turning to City, they will be without the services of John Stones, who suffered a thigh injury in that devastating home loss to United in Manchester Derby on Saturday. Meanwhile striker Sergio Aguero is inching towards a return but won’t likely be risked in this affair.
The good news is that defender Oleksandr Zinchenko is set to return after being out of commission for two months, due to a knee injury.
Aymeric Laporte and Leroy Sane remain out, both due to knee ligament injuries. Their potential returns may not come until January or February.
Manchester City at Dinamo Zagreb UEFA Champions League FYIs
Manchester City Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Kickoff: Stadion Maksimir, December 11, 5:55pm
Form Guide: Manchester City- DDWWW Dinamo Zagreb- LDDLW
Google Result Probability: Manchester City win 54%, Draw 22%, Dinamo Zagreb win 24%
Prediction: Dinamo Zagreb 2, Manchester City 2
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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