Predicted Starting Line-Up: Sporting CP vs Manchester City (UEFA Champions League) | OneFootball

Manchester City travel to the Portuguese capital of Lisbon this week as they take on Ruben Amorim’s Sporting CP on matchday four of the UEFA Champions League.

Pep Guardiola and his players succumbed to their second successive defeat across competitions at the weekend, and as such will be hoping for an immediate return to winning ways with Bournemouth inflicting a 2-1 defeat on the Premier League champions.

City had much more joy in the Champions League on matchday three however, dismissing of Sparta Prague via a 5-0 home victory with goals from Phil Foden, a brace from Erling Haaland, John Stones, and a Matheus Nunes penalty.

Ruben Amorim’s Sporting are likely to provide a much sterner test for Manchester City this week, as the reigning champions of Portugal look to give their departing manager the ultimate send-off before he becomes Manchester United’s head coach next week.

Manchester City will remain without the same five players that missed the defeat on the south coast on Saturday afternoon, with Ruben Dias, John Stones, Oscar Bobb, Rodri, and Jack Grealish all absent from a 22-man travelling squad named by Pep Guardiola.

You can check out the full 22-man squad list released by Manchester City on Monday afternoon below!

Ahead of Manchester City’s upcoming UEFA Champions League clash against Sporting CP, here is how we predict Pep Guardiola will line-up his side at Estádio José Alvalade on Tuesday night!

Predicted XI

After back-to-back starts for Stefan Ortega in the Manchester City line-up on matchdays two and three in the UEFA Champions League, Pep Guardiola has confirmed that the German goalkeeper will maintain his place in the squad this week on matchday four.

Kyle Walker endured a very difficult afternoon against Bournemouth at the weekend, but his presence enabled a much-needed rest for Rico Lewis, and we believe the 19-year-old will return to his right-back spot for the clash in Portugal.

Pep Guardiola largely has his hands tied in the remaining positions within his back-four, and given the absences of both Ruben Dias and John Stones, it is highly like that Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake will continue in the centre of defence.

The presence of Ake on the left-side of the central defensive pairing also means that Josko Gvardiol would be guaranteed to start against the Portuguese champions, hoping to continue a remarkable start to the season from the Croatia international.

At the base of midfield, we expect Mateo Kovacic to continue in the role and likely receive support from Rico Lewis inverting from his right-back position in defence when City are in possession of the ball.

Offering the creativity and much-needed energy and legs in the centre of the park will be Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden in our anticipated line-up, with much stronger performances needed from the pairing compared to their showings at the Vitality on Saturday.

Having been left on the bench at Bournemouth due to recovering from an ankle problem in the defeat to Tottenham, we think Manchester City may be hugely boosted by Savinho‘s return to the line-up this week.

There will once again be no opportunity for rotation up front, as Erling Haaland will likely lead the line once again for his team.

On the left, and despite the return of Jeremy Doku following a muscular issue, we think further faith could be put into Matheus Nunes upon his return to Sporting CP as he remains in a rich vein of form at present.

Starting XI: Ortega; Lewis, Akanji, Ake, Gvardiol; Kovacic, Bernardo, Foden; Savinho, Haaland, Nunes.

Substitutes: Ederson, Carson, Walker, Simpson-Pusey, Wilson-Esbrand, O’Reilly, Wright, Gundogan, De Bruyne, McAtee, Doku.