Manchester City vs Club Brugge: Prediction, Preview & Betting Tips

Not many would have seen it coming, but the first year of the new Champions League format sees Man City - the bookmaker's favourites to win the competition pre-season - sitting outside the automatic qualification places with just one match left.

Man City must win and have other results go their way to finish in the top 24 and progress to the knockout round. With their current form, especially defensively, that is no guarantee. Club Brugge arrive unbeaten in their last 20 matches in all competitions, including a 1-0 win over Aston Villa in November.

Brugge technically need a draw to guarantee progression, but are in all likelihood through even if they lose, so will be free to play with the shackles off. Man City's defense has been shaky throughout this season, so attack may be the best form of defense. We predict Man City to show their class and progress, but only narrowly.

Manchester City 2 - 1 Club Brugge

Manchester City host Club Brugge on Tuesday evening. Both teams will be hoping for a positive result to secure qualification to the next stage of the Champions League.

Date: 29/01/25

Kick-off time: 20:00

Venue: Etihad Stadium

It has been a bizarre season for Man City, who started the year as favourites for both the Premier League & the Champions League. By Christmas you could get odds of 33/1 for the league and after a crazy 4-2 defeat to PSG they are now clinging onto the Champions League by their fingernails. Who saw this coming?

Thanks to the new Champions League format it doesn't matter that Man City have only won 2 of their 7 games so far. They remain 10/1, sixth favourites to win the competition overall, ahead of teams like PSG, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid. The first challenge is to qualify for the knockouts by beating Club Brugge.

The Belgian team actually sit 5 places above them in the Champions League table. They have played solid football with a focus on defence, grinding out two 1-0 wins against Sturm Graz and Celtic, but still creating chances, Their league campaign sees them sitting just three points off leaders Genk, and impressively they are unbeaten in their last 20 matches in all competitions.

The match will be shown live on TNT Sports 2.

Manchester City

While the good news for Man City is that they don't have any new injury problems after Sunday's win against Chelsea, they continue to miss a host of players. These include Ruben Dias, Rodri, Nathan Ake & Oscar Bobb. Jeremy Doku's injury has also proved more severe than hoped, and he will not return for this match. Expect John Stones to start after being rested versus Chelsea.

Club Brugge

English football fans will see some familiar faces in the Club Brugge lineup in ex-Liverpool player Simon Mignolet and ex-Norwich winger Christos Tzolis. Club Brugge don't have any injury worries for this game, and rested star full back Maxim De Cuyper (widely linked to all the top European cups) for the first half of their last match.

Manchester City:

Last season Manchester City lost just 3 matches in the league, on their way to totalling 91 points - two clear of Arsenal. This season, they have already lost six. The blame can largely be placed on their defence; having conceded 0.89 goals per game last season, they are conceding a rate of 1.3 this season. When added to their attacking form, which has seen their scoring rate drop from 2.52 goals per match last season to 2.04 goals per match this season, it's no surprise to see them sitting in 4th position.

Sunday's win against Chelsea was a massive one for the club. A loss would have seen them marooned in 8th position, five points away from a precious fourth place. Instead, they find themselves in that exact spot, unbeaten in the league in their last 6, although that run does include draws against Everton and Brentford.

Versus Chelsea, their defensive woes continued, as new signing Abdukodir Khusanov failed to get enough power on his header back to Ederson, allowing Madueke to steal in and slot the ball home after just three minutes. Things improved from there and another new signing, Omar Marmoush, showed some early signs of being a promising addition. In the end, they deserved their 3-1 win against a Chelsea team who faded away in the second half.

Man City will no doubt have one eye on their next fixture; they travel to Arsenal for the late Sunday kick off, before a welcome opportunity to rest a squad which is looking increasingly weary with a cup visit to Leyton Orient a week later.

Club Brugge:

In contrast to Man City, Club Brugge are having an extremely productive campaign. They sit second in the league, with 14 wins, 6 draws and 3 defeats, and the best goal difference in the league (+26). The bookmakers have them in a two horse race with current leaders Genk, who they are also facing in the Belgian Cup semi final next week.

Their recent league form has been solid but a step below how they started the season, winning three and drawing two of their last five matches. The Belgian Cup has been played mid week between matches in January, apart from last week when they faced Juventus, so manager Nicky Hayen has been forced into some squad rotation this month. That said, stalwarts including Brandon Mechele & Hans Vanaken have played the vast majority of both league and Champions League minutes, and there is a risk of growing fatigue within the squad.

Last time out they played Kortrijk, sitting 15th (of 16) in the league. It was a frustrating draw for Brugge; despite dominating the match, they failed to score from open play, with the match finishing thanks to a Gustaf Nilsson penalty cancelling out Brecht Dejaegere's rare opener for the away team. The hosts created 3 big chances and a huge 2.7 xG from 19 shots in total, finding themselves denied by the goalkeeper repeatedly who had an excellent game.

That game came just four days after a dull encounter with Juventus in the previous round of Champions League matches. Juventus managed just one shot on target, which was still one more than Brugge - despite slightly edging the shot count with seven vs five, they didn't hit the target once. The Belgian team's fans would have been happy with the way they defended though and they did have the best chance of the match which was spurned late in the second half by Nilsson.

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