Man City vs Sparta Prague: Team news and probable line-ups | OneFootball

Manchester City host Sparta Prague at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday, October 23, kicking off at 20:00 BST and this Champions League clash will be broadcast on TNT Sports 2 and TNT Sports Ultimate.

Can Sparta hush Haaland?

With rumours that this could be his final season as Manchester City boss, a second Champions League crown at the club will be among Pep Guardiola’s priorities.

Even so, the lighter schedule brought on by the competition’s new format, with Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain potentially the only two of his team’s six remaining league phase opponents to truly trouble him, the Catalan can use this competition to rotate and keep players fresh for other challenges.

After their 0-0 opening home draw with Inter Milan, Guardiola switched things up for the 4-0 win at Slovan Bratislava and may have similar plans against Sparta Prague.

However, the Czech champions are a superior side to their Slovak counterparts and have a decent chance of making it into the knockouts after following their 3-0 win over Salzburg with a 1-1 draw at Stuttgart.

They responded to domestic defeats to Sigma Olomouc and bitter rivals Slavia with Saturday’s 2-1 win over Slovan Liberec.

However, their coach, Lars Friis, may also be eyeing future fixtures. With Brest and Feyenoord still to come, in and around games against Inter, Atletico Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen, avoiding a beating and any unwanted injuries or unnecessary suspensions might be enough at the Etihad.

One player Guardiola is unlikely to leave out is Erling Haaland. The Norwegian is the only player in the City squad without an obvious replacement and, with just two goals in his last six club games, he is enduring a relatively dry spell.

Haaland’s last goal came in the win over Slovan, but with 42 Champions League strikes in just 41 appearances he might see Wednesday against Sparta as the perfect chance to start a scoring run, especially with Premier League strugglers next up at the Etihad on Saturday.

Man City vs Sparta Prague Team News

Guardiola confirmed on Tuesday that neither Kevin De Bruyne nor Kyle Walker will be available for Wednesday’s game.

De Bruyne missed five months of last season with a hamstring injury and, at 33, the coach says it is essential the club look after the Belgian after he admitted to feeling discomfort in his leg.

Meanwhile, Walker picked up a knee issue while on England duty and like his colleague, missed Sunday’s 2-1 win at Wolves.

Rodri (knee) and Oscar Bobb (leg fracture) are City’s only long-term absentees and the Catalan could rotate after handing starts to Stefan Ortega and Matheus Nunes in Bratislava, with Jack Grealish a potential option on the left.

Sparta’s Elias Cobbaut is yet to feature this season due to a combination of illness and injury, while fellow defender Imanol Garcia is a long-term absentee with a knee issue and wasn’t registered for this competition.

Martin Vitik is available after serving a domestic suspension against Slovan and could replace Asger Sorensen in defence.

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