Champions League: Now the Foals Face the Very Best!

Champions League: Now the Foals Face the Very Best!

Borussia Monchengladbach vs Manchester City

Borussia Monchengladbach are in Champions League action on Wednesday night when they travel to the Puskas Arena in Hungary where they will meet…Manchester City.

There is no team on the planet in better form than Pep Guardiola’s Sky Blues at the moment; they are on an 18-match winning run and playing scintillating football.

The latest Champions League 2021 betting odds say City is the team to beat, so if Borussia can somehow overcome their foes they will do Europe’s other big players a huge favour.

But Die Fohlen are in the midst of a poor run which has seen them drop out of contention in the Bundesliga and their manager has his sights set elsewhere, so if they can beat City then the Champions League 2021 news headlines will write themselves this week!

Talking Points

Borussia must find their Mojo    

Over the past couple of seasons, this Monchengladbach side has wowed football fans in Germany with an attacking brand of football and a fear of no-one. But head coach Marco Rose is destined for Borussia Dortmund in the summer and Die Fohlen seem to have lost their way, losing their last two home games to strugglers Mainz and Cologne, so maybe a trip to the Puskas Arena won’t do them any harm.

A 0-0 draw in a tough assignment away to high-flying Wolfsburg last week was an encouraging result, and if Rose can rally his troops, they will test the Sky Blues.

French forward Alassane Plea scored five goals in Monchengladbach’s Group B campaign as Die Fohlen finished top scorers with 16 goals to qualify alongside Real Madrid while dumping Serie A leaders Inter Milan out of the competition.

So the Germans do carry a threat. Alongside Plea, Marcus Thuram is a lively striker, while Germany international Lars Stindl, who was on target in the 2-1 defeat to Mainz, has bags of experience and a one-in-three goal ratio.

The 28-year-old Jonas Hoffman is Die Fohlen’s key man in the middle of the park and he’ll have to be at his best to support the front line and protect his defence.

Who can stop the Sky Blues? 

Manchester City’s 18-match winning run has prompted talk of an unprecedented quadruple, though Pep Guardiola will play that idea down at every opportunity. Here at SBOTOP, we have installed the Sky Blues as clear favourites to win the Champions League at odds of 3.80, with FC Bayern in pursuit at 4.50 and PSG at 6.50.

2019 champions Liverpool have come in to odds of 7.00, mainly because they are out of every other competition, both domestic cups, and are 19 points behind the Sky Blues in the Premier League table.  Incidentally, Monchengladbach are the rank outsiders to win the Champions League at odds of 121.00.

Die Fohlen are available at odds of 4.57 to get past the Sky Blues in this Round of 16, so expect their title odds to plummet if they can pull off the unthinkable!

Guardiola’s squad runs deep and he will be able to rotate, with an upcoming Premier League clash against in-form West Ham on the horizon. Gabriel Jesus started on the bench in Sunday’s 1-0 victory over Arsenal, as did Sergio Aguero and both could be set to feature.

Young winger Ferran Torres had a good group campaign, scoring four goals and contributing an assist, and he’ll hope to make a start while the impeccable Kevin de Bruyne is also back in action.

Guardiola has the option to give defensive lynchpin Ruben Dias a rest, with Aymeric Laporte and John Stones both also in great form.

History

While the Sky Blues have won three of the four meetings between these two teams the last game was a 1-1 draw in the 2016/17 Champions League. It was a feisty affair as City’s Fernandinho and Monchengladbach’s Stindl were both red carded as the Sky Blues qualified for the knockout phase.

As well as winning 18 on the run, City are unbeaten in 25 games in all competitions and have conceded a miserly four goals in the last 17. In contrast, since Die Fohlen recorded an impressive 4-2 victory over Dortmund, they have drawn two and lost two of the last four.

Betting Tip

Manchester City Asian Handicap -1.50 @ 2.00

The Sky Blues are hot favourites to win this tie at odds of 1.31 with Borussia at 7.14 and the draw at 5.22.

While Die Fohlen undoubtedly have an attacking threat, as they showed at the group stage, they will come up against a City team with an impenetrable defence and a razor-sharp attack.

Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.

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