Grealish, Ake and Nunes return for Champions League clash | OneFootball

Jack Grealish, Matheus Nunes and Nathan Ake come into the starting line-up as City make three changes for tonight’s Champions League clash with Feyenoord.

Kyle Walker and Savinho drop to the bench and John Stones is not in the squad for our fifth game of this season’s league stage.

It’s hopefully a sign that our injury problems are starting to ease with Grealish starting his first game for the Blues since the beginning of October.

Ake too has been hampered by setbacks but both players were second half substitutes in our Premier League clash with Tottenham at the weekend.

TEAMS

CITY XI: Ederson, Lewis, Akanji, Ake, Gvardiol, Gundogan, Bernardo (c), Nunes, Foden, Grealish, Haaland

Subs: Ortega Moreno, Carson, Walker, Dias, De Bruyne, Savinho, Wright, Simpson-Pusey, O'Reilly, McAtee, Wilson-Esbrand

FEYENOORD XI: Wellenreuther, Nieuwkoop, Trauner, Hancko, Smal, Hwang, Timber (C), Milambo, Paixao, Moussa, Carranza

Subs: Bijlow, Ka, Beelen, Zerrouki, Gonzalez, Ivanusec, Mitchell, Zechiel, Gimenez, Lotomba, Redmond

FORMATION AND POSSIBLE TACTICS

Pep Guardiola has plenty of options in his attacking formation to support Erling Haaland as our number nine.

Grealish has been almost exclusively a left winger during his time at the Etihad but Nunes also excelled there earlier this season.

The midfield options are Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden and Ilkay Gundogan with one of the first two potentially starting on the right.

Our defence looks more straightforward with Rico Lewis and Josko Gvardiol likely to be the full-backs either side of Ake and Manuel Akanji.

SEVEN UP

It was seven years ago this week that a fresh-faced Phil Foden made his debut against - of all teams - Feyenoord.

Back in November 2017, Foden came off the bench to replace Yaya Toure and make his senior debut in a 1-0 win.

Just 17 at the time, there was a lot of excitement around the youngster following his performances for the youth teams for both City and England.

But still it’s incredible to see the career he’s gone on to have at the Etihad, being named the Premier League’s best player last season and nominated for the Ballon d’Or.

That was his first appearance and tonight will be his 286th for the lifelong City fan who has also won 17 major honours with the Blues.

He also has 90 goals, and it would be a good time to take a step closer becoming the 20th player in our history to hit a century.

DUTCH COURAGE

Feyenoord have been at their best away from home this season in the UEFA Champions League winning 3-2 at Girona and 3-1 at Benfica but losing both home games to Bayer Leverkusen 4-0 and RB Salzburg.

And the only time they’ve not lost to English opponents has been away, beating Newcastle 1-0 in 2002 and drawing with Spurs in 1961.

The good news is that they’ve never previously won three consecutive away games in the European Cup/Champions League while City haven’t lost consecutive European games in six years.

Goal difference means that the Dutch side currently sit 22nd in the new league format while City are 11 places higher with a point more.

Both Clubs would go into the extra round before the last-16 In the knockout phase, with the teams finishing between 9th and 16th seeded in the play-off draw.

But were only halfway through the league stage with City playing games away to Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain before our final clash with Club Brugge after tonight’s encounter.

STATS AND MILESTONES

Our only previous two meetings came in the Champions League in 2017/18, with City winning 1-0 at home and 4-0 away in the group stage that season.

56% of City’s high-intensity pressures in the Champions League this season have been made in the final third, the highest percentage of any team. Indeed, we rank fifth for total high-intensity pressures in the final third this term (447), despite being the team who averages the most possession in the tournament (72%).

Feyenoord have only kept one clean sheet in their last 19 matches in the UEFA Champions League (2-0 v Celtic in September 2023), conceding 41 goals overall in this run. Meanwhile, City averages 2.9 goals per home match in the Champions League under Pep Guardiola (124 goals in 43 games).

Erling Haaland has been directly involved in 49 goals in 43 appearances in the Champions League (44 goals, five assists). If he scores or assists in this game, he would reach 50 goal involvements in fewer appearances than any other player in the competition’s history (current record is 45 games, by Ruud van Nistelrooy in 2004).

Antoni Milambo, 19, has scored three goals in three Champions League games this season, while the only Dutch teenager to score more in a single edition is Patrick Kluivert (4 in 1995/96 for Ajax). In addition, the only player to net more in a single campaign for Feyenoord in the competition is Jon Dahl Tomasson (4 in 1999/00).

Rico Lewis has created more chances while under high-intensity pressure than any other player in the Champions League this season (10). In fact, three of the top four ranked players in this category this term play for Manchester City (Lewis 10, Foden 9, Savinho 9 – Florian Wirtz also on 9).