Manchester City welcome Schalke 04 to the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday evening for the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie, sitting on a 3-2 lead from a dramatic first leg.
A couple of Nabil Bentaleb penalties in Gelsenkirchen swung the tie Schalke's way after Sergio Aguero opened the scoring, but the 10 men of Man City hit back through Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling to close in on the quarter-finals.
Manchester City
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Saturday's 3-1 home win over Watford provided yet another example of the Citizens' ability to overcome any type of challenge, as they broke through the Hornets' defensive wall - albeit with the help of a controversial call for their opening goal - to remain one point clear at the top of the Premier League.
That was City's last league outing for three weeks as focus now turns back to the Champions League and FA Cup, before a fortnight hiatus for international football.
The target, with two-and-a-half months of the season to go, is to win all four competitions that they entered. Having already lifted the EFL Cup with victory over Chelsea in last month's final, Pep Guardiola's men remain on course to achieving that unprecedented target
Despite their recent domestic dominance, however, City never seem able to replicate their clinical displays on the continent - not in the latter stages, at least. This is the sixth year in a row they have made it to the knockout rounds, but they have prevailed from just two of their previous five last-15 ties.
It was plain sailing 12 months ago as they brushed aside Basel 5-2 on aggregate, winning the first leg 4-0 to effectively get the job done inside 90 minutes. There was no such luck this time around, though, as they were made to work hard by Schalke in the first leg.
After throwing away a one-goal lead and losing Nicolas Otamendi to a red card, it looked to be a case of damage limitation for Guardiola. That could not be further from the truth, though, as Sane scored a stunning free kick against his former club and Sterling then fired home in the last minute to put City in full control.
Three-in-a-row European champions Real Madrid's shock exit to Ajax last week means that the English champions City are no the bookies' favourites to win their first ever continental crown. At the same time, however, Ajax's 4-1 win at the Bernabeu last week must also serve as a warning for Guardiola, who has not won this competition since 2011.
Guardiola's side have lost both of their last two knockout matches in the Champions League at the Etihad Stadium, both 2-1 defeats to Basel in March 2018 and Liverpool in April 2018, and they also lost by the same scoreline to Lyon on the opening matchday this season.
The Citizens have become experts at getting the job done in recent weeks, but this is far from a straightforward task.
Recent form in Champions League: WWWDWW
Recent form (all competitions): WWWWWW
Schalke 04
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Schalke do not have a happy history at this stage of the Champions League as they have lost their last three last-16 matches, most recently going down 5-4 to Real Madrid in 2015.
As was the case in that thrilling double-header with Madrid four years ago, the German side did their reputation no harm with their performance at the Veltins-Arena three weeks ago, though their inability to see out the match at 2-1 up has left them with a big mountain to climb.
The Royal Blues make the trip to Manchester on a four-match losing run that has seen them concede 14 goals and score four - half of those being Bentaleb penalties in the reverse fixture.
In fact, three of Schalke's last four goals in UEFA's premier club competition have been penalties by Bentaleb, who is now on course to become just the second player to score in three successive Champions League matches from the spot after Bayern Munich's Thomas Muller in 2014-15.
Schalke are without a win in seven matches in all competition since beating Fortuna Dusseldorf 4-1 on February 6, seeing them slip down to 14th place in the Bundesliga, just four points above the relegation zone.
European football has provided a welcome distraction, though, having collected 11 points in the group stage to finish above Galatasaray and Lokomotiv Moscow in second place, before nearly pulling off a shock first-leg win over City last month.
Four of those points came on their travels and, despite going down 3-1 to group winners Porto on matchday five, Schalke have lost only three of their last 15 away European matches, beating Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in that run.
Domenico Tedesco's side are on a poor run of form, however, and it seems highly unlikely that the will put an end to their losing run at the home of the Champions League favourites.
Recent form in Champions League: WDWLWL
Recent form (all competitions): LDLLLL
Team News
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Guardiola made two changes to his side between the wins over Bournemouth and Watford, bringing in Vincent Kompany and Riyad Mahrez for injured pair John Stones and Kevin De Bruyne.
Stones and De Bruyne are expected to remain absent for Tuesday's visit of Schalke, while key midfield man Fernandinho is also nursing a muscle injury, but Fabian Delph may return from illness to give Oleksandr Zinchenko a rest.
With Otamendi suspended because of his red card in the first leg, and Stones unlikely to be rushed back, Kompany should retain his place in the heart of defence alongside Aymeric Laporte, who has played just 45 minutes of football since the reverse fixture.
Sane and Gabriel Jesus started the Watford match on the bench and are both in contention to return here, though it is unlikely to come at the expense of Aguero, even if the Argentine striker is in need of a rest.
Schalke will be without key man Daniele Caligiuri, meanwhile, as the playmaker picked up a leg injury last week that will rule him out for around a month.
Alessandro Schopf is also on the sidelines, so Weston McKennie is in line for a start on the right-hand side, with Hamza Mendyl on the opposite flank.
Elsewhere, Benjamin Stambouli is in contention to replace Jeffrey Bruma and Omar Mascarell's inclusion is touch-and-go as he requires a late fitness test.
Former Man City man Rabbi Matondo is also part of Schalke's travelling party.
Manchester City possible starting lineup:
Ederson; Walker, Kompany, Laporte, Zinchenko; Bernardo, Gundogan, David Silva; Sane, Aguero, Sterling
Schalke possible starting lineup:
Fahrmann; Stambouli, Sane, Nastasic; McKennie, Serdar, Bentaleb, Mendyl; Embolo, Skrzybski; Burgstaller
Head To Head
Man City have won each of their last three meetings with Schalke in European competition, including a 5-1 win in the 1969-70 Cup Winners' Cup semi-final in their only previous home meeting with the German club.
The Citizens have lost only one of their previous 10 home games against German opposition in all European competitions - a 3-1 reverse in the 2013-14 Champions League group stage against Bayern Munich.
Schalke, by comparison, are without a win in their last six games against English sides since a 2-0 victory at Arsenal in October 2012, which is their sole victory in England.
We say: Manchester City 2-0 Schalke 04 (5-2 on agg)
Schalke gave City a real scare in the first leg, but three away goals means that the German visitors will have to either win by two clear goals at the Etihad Stadium or score at least three times. Of the previous 27 occasions of a side scoring three or more goals away from home in the first leg of a Champions League knockout tie, all have gone on to progress, including six after winning 3-2. The Royal Blues will therefore have to create some history if they are to pull off a major upset.
Daniel Lewis
