Copenhagen vs Manchester City
UEFA Champions League
Round of 16
Tuesday
13th February 2024
Telia Parken
The most comprehensive preview, detailed analysis and reliable predictions of the UEFA Champions League fixture between Copenhagen and Manchester City.
Copenhagen vs Manchester City: Preview
Copenhagen form analysis
FC Copenhagen had a very challenging group containing Bayern Munich, Manchester United, and Galatasaray. They opened their campaign with a tough 2-1 home loss to Bayern Munich, taking an early lead but conceding late goals. A 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford followed against Manchester United, where they managed to contain their opponents but could not find the equalizer. In their third match against Manchester United at home, FC Copenhagen pulled off an impressive comeback win in a high-scoring 4-3 victory. They raced out to a two-goal lead early before conceding twice and going into halftime level.
Another goal gave them the lead back, but a penalty drew Manchester United level again before a late winner secured three important points. FC Copenhagen’s final home match was a gritty 0-0 draw against Bayern Munich where they defended strongly to earn a valuable point. While they had no goals, keeping one of Europe’s top sides out of the net showed their defensive resilience. Their last group match was a 1-0 victory over Galatasaray, with Lukas Lerager scoring the only goal to give them a third win. While results in such a difficult group were always likely to be challenging for FC Copenhagen, they performed admirably and showed they can compete at that level in the Round of 16, particularly in their home victories.
Manchester City form analysis
Manchester City began their Champions League group stage campaign brightly, beating RB Leipzig 3-1 away from home courtesy of goals from Foden, Álvarez and late substitute Doku. They continued this form by winning 3-1 away against Young Boys in their next European match, coming from behind after Akanji and Haaland’s penalty put them ahead before the Norwegian wrapped up the points late on. City comfortably dispatched Young Boys 3-0 at home, with Haaland again on target along with Foden.
However, their progress stumbled slightly as they were pushed hard at home by RB Leipzig, eventually coming from two goals down to win 3-2 thanks to Haaland sparking the comeback before Foden leveled things up and Álvarez netted a late winner. Most recently, Man City secured a top spot by coming from behind again to beat Red Star Belgrade 3-2 away. Goals from Hamilton, Bobb and Phillips’ penalty sealed the victory. Overall, it’s been an impressive group stage campaign from Pep Guardiola’s side despite some scares.
Copenhagen vs Manchester City: Prediction
The last three Champions League fixtures at this venue produced an average of 3.75 goals. This figure is just more than four per game in City’s last three CL fixtures on the road. Expect a plethora of goals when these two teams lock horns.
The hosts have largely a very good record at home in European competitions. The club have lost just thrice at home in UCL over the last ten years. They did not lose by more than a goal in that time period. Hence despite the might of the visitors, the hosts have more than enough to hold their own.
