Manchester City vs Basel: UCL Match Preview

Leroy Sane could make a shock return to the Manchester City side to take on Basel in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Tuesday.

City are firm favourites going into this encounter having qualified for the knockout stages comfortably, while leading the way in the Premier League by massive gap of 16 points.

Guardiola has been handed a boost with Sane, Fabian Delph and David Silva all taking part in first-team training on Monday.

Gabriel Jesus will be missing for this fixture, but before the Leicester game, Guardiola reported he should be back in two weeks and could easily play a part in the second leg of this fixture in March.

Basel midfielder Luca Zuffi will miss out through injury for Basel, while Eder Balanta will be assessed after being withdrawn at the weekend.

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• This will be the first competitive meeting between Basel and Manchester City.
• Basel have also won four of their last five Champions League games (L1), as many wins as in their previous 22 games in the competition (D6 L12).
• Manchester City have won only one of their six away games in the Champions League knockout stages (D1 L4), it was against Dynamo Kiev in February 2016 (3-1). They’ve also never kept a clean sheet in those six games.
• Basel have averaged 39 per cent possession in this season’s Champions League, the lowest ratio among the 16 teams left in the competition.
• Raheem Sterling has scored four goals in five Champions League appearances this season, already his most prolific campaign to date.
• Pep Guardiola has won the Champions League on two occasions as a manager (2009 & 2011, both with Barcelona). A third trophy would equal Carlo Ancelotti and Bob Paisley’s record. He’s also reached the semi-finals in seven of his eight previous seasons as manager but hasn’t made the final since 2011.