Confirmed Line-Ups: Villarreal vs Manchester City (UEFA Champions League) | OneFootball

Manchester City take on Villarreal on matchday three of the UEFA Champions League group-stage campaign at the Estadi de la Ceràmica on Tuesday evening.

The Blues have turned a corner since their early season slump and have picked up four points from their opening two UEFA Champions League group-phase games against Napoli and AS Monaco.

Goals from Erling Haaland and Jeremy Doku secured a 2-0 win over Napoli at the Etihad Stadium on the opening day of the European campaign, when Kevin De Bruyne returned to England three months on from leaving Manchester City on a free transfer.

Haaland netted a brace last time out but Manchester City were held to a frustrating 2-2 draw by AS Monaco in the French Riviera after Eric Dier scored a controversial injury-time penalty to salvage a point for the Ligue 1 outfit.

City are in a rich vein of form in the Premier League and climbed to second place in the league table as Haaland’s brace secured a 2-0 win over Everton at the Etihad Stadium at the weekend – further underscoring how unhealthily reliant the Blues are on the Norwegian.

Pep Guardiola issued an update on his side’s fitness for Villarreal in a press conference on Monday, with Rodri and Abdukodir Khusanov unavailable for the game in Spain – though the former has travelled with the wider Manchester City squad.

Rodri is set to be honoured with the Villarreal gold badge ahead of kick-off on Tuesday evening, with Nico Gonzalez set to start in defensive midfield for Manchester City amid the continued absence of the 29-year-old.

Rayan Cherki and Mateo Kovacic made their long-awaited returns to action against Everton on Saturday, with Omar Marmoush and Rayan Ait-Nouri in line to feature against Villarreal after returning to full fitness last week.

Ahead of Tuesday’s 20:00 UK kick-off in eastern Spain, here are the confirmed line-ups from both camps!

Villarreal

Starting XI: Junior; Mourino, Foyth, Veiga, Pedraza; Buchanan, Partey, Gueye, Comesana; Pepe, Mikautadze.

Substitutes: Conde, Tenas, Altimira, Cardona, Marin, Solomon, Parejo, Akhomach, Moleiro, Moreno, Oluwaseyi, Perez.

Manchester City

Starting XI: Donnarumma; Nunes, Stones, Dias, Gvardiol; Nico, Lewis, Bernardo (C); Savinho, Haaland, Doku.

Substitutes: Trafford, Bettinelli, Ake, Ait-Nouri, O’Reilly, Kovacic, Reijnders, Foden, Cherki, Bobb, Marmoush.