Manchester City has been perfect in the Champions League so far, winning all five of their matchups and clinching top spot in Group F heading into their finale. They’ll head to Shakhtar Donetsk, where the home side can get to the knockout stage with a single point.
What To Know About Manchester City
Manchester City clinched with a 1-0 win at home over Feyenoord in their last Champions League match, and they needed a Raheem Sterling goal in the 88th minute to do so. It wasn’t a Manchester City performance like we have come to expect as of late as they have been tearing apart the English Premier League as well as the Champions League. However, it was a job done for Manchester City and now they can take a bit of a breather going into this final matchday. Sterling now leads Manchester City in the Champions League with four goals, while John Stones has three, and the strike duo of Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus have scored two goals each. Their best player has been Kevin DeBruyne, who has a goal and three assists, and generally pulls the string in midfield, but he can afford to rest this game. Manchester City has won both of their away games in the Champions League by a score of 8-2.
What To Know About Shakhtar Donetsk
Shakhtar Donetsk were drilled 3-0 at Napoli in their previous Champions League match, but they still have a three-point lead over the Italian team going into this final match. Bernard, Marlos and Facundo Ferreyra have all scored two goals for Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League so far, while Taison has scored once for Shakhtar Donetsk, who have a goal differential of -1 going into this game, while Napoli sits at +1 ahead of their trip to last-place Feyenoord. Shakhtar Donetsk needs to play their best game of the group stage here at home, where they have won both of their games by a score of 5-2. All they need is a point and they’re through to the knockout stage of the Champions League for the fourth time in their history.
Outlook
Shakhtar Donetsk is actually favored at home at +130, while Manchester City is rated at +200 and a draw comes in at +240. De Bruyne and Sterling scored in a 2-0 home win for Manchester City on September 26th in their first-ever meeting, but this game could be a little different as Manchester City can rest players and they just might as the English Premier League schedule in December can get quite difficult. Obviously, if everything were equal and Manchester City needed to play their first-choice lineup, they would win this game going away. But with a busy period coming up, that could give Shakhtar Donetsk the edge in this game and again, they only need a point, not all three. This game will be decided by which players Manchester City decides to play, and there have been a few questions about their depth lately.
Champions League Betting Pick: Draw
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