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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Isaac Johnson & Simon Bajkowski & Jack Flintham & Tyrone Marshall

How Man City should line up vs Bayern Munich in Champions League fixture

Manchester City welcome Bayern Munich to the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night for the first leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final tie.

The German powerhouse arrive in Manchester with a perfect record in the competition this season, having won all eight of their matches so far, keeping clean sheets in seven of them. They're also keeping their noses in front of Borussia Dortmund at the top of the Bundesliga table.

But the one team they wouldn't have wanted to face at this stage of the tournament would be an in-form City side who have won their last eight matches, scoring a phenomenal 31 goals in the process.

ALSO READ: Everything Guardiola and Dias said in press conference

Bayern will also be reunited in battle with a familiar face in Erling Haaland who struck against them regularly for Dortmund, but has scored an astonishing 44 goals in just 38 matches since joining the Blues.

MEN Sport writers have given the starting XI they would select for the match and you can pick your own in the widget below.

Simon Bajkowski

City have looked excellent for a while now and that continued at Southampton, even if Guardiola thought they were below their best in the second half. Playing John Stones alongside Rodri is working and the defence looks tight, however unfortunate that is for Kyle Walker and Aymeric Laporte.

It does feel like Bernardo Silva is always a useful play to have on these nights, but the problem is who he comes in for. Kevin De Bruyne is playing superbly, Ilkay Gundogan is in his rhythm and Jack Grealish is enjoying his best spell in the team.

Riyad Mahrez is probably the unfortunate one that misses out then, with Erling Haaland spearheading the team to do what he does and Julian Alvarez another waiting on the bench for his chance.

Tyrone Marshall

How does Guardiola approach this one then? The challenge of Bayern Munich is unlikely anything he's faced recently, they are a side that almost always carry a threat out wide, which could be an issue for City's new back three, and they have pace to burn in attack.

The sight of Walker coming on for Stones after 56 minutes on Saturday could be a sign that Stones is being rested for this game or Walker given rhythm to return. I'll go with what is working for City, however, which means a back three of Dias, Akanji and Ake.

That puts Stones alongside Rodri in midfield and I'd go with Bernardo and De Bruyne in advance of them. Haaland has to start of course, as does Grealish on current form. Mahrez can complete the front three.

Jack Flintham

Considering how well City performed on Saturday when Walker was brought on for Stones, I believe that Guardiola will be tempted to bring him into the fold for the visit of Bayern. The Blues' boss has already admitted that the full-back cannot play the defensive midfield role so this would lead to a return to the 4-3-3.

Should City revisit this formation, the Blues will be hoping to continue their excellent form of recent weeks. Elsewhere, I believe Guardiola will stick with an unchanged team.

His side has barely put a foot wrong for several matches now but Thomas Tuchel's Bayern will prove to be a tough test.

Jack's Man City team to face Bayern Munich (Pick the Team)

Have a go at selecting your City XI to face Bayern Munich using the tool below:

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