By Mihai Petre, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17683823
7.45pm – 16.08.16 – Arena Națională
After getting his Man City reign off to a winning start against Sunderland, Guardiola’s next assignment is to ensure his side’s participation in the group stages of the Champions League. In order to do so, he’ll have to overcome Romanian Liga 1 Champions Steau Bucharest.
Steau have started their domestic well once again, winning their opening three games and they’ve also made it past Sparta Prague to earn this tie with City. They last competed in the Champions League group stages back in 2013/14 when they only picked up three points, with two of those coming at home against Schalke and Basel, though they were thumped 4-0 by Chelsea.
According to our rankings Steau are the 104th best team in Europe and as a result will comfortably be the lowest graded side that the Citizens have travelled to in recent times in this competition. They have however won three of their four trips to sides outside the top-25 in the Champions League since 2011/12, including a pair of 3-0 wins over Plzen and Villarreal. As a result, we expect City to put this tie to bed here and win well, with the -1 handicap and the W/W double both appealing.
Recommendations: Man City -1 Handicap at 2.15
Man City/Man City HT/FT at 2.05
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