The story is quite similar for Manchester City and Young Boys on the home front as they are both defending champions, but they meet on the Champions League stage for the first time in history on Wednesday 25th October.
Manchester City, who started the season on fire in the Premier League, have slowed down recently. This campaign’s great start got underway with a UEFA Super Cup success over Sevilla, then an easy 3-0 win over Burnley at Turf Moor courtesy of goals from Erling Haaland (brace) and Rodri to open the Premier League season.
After those two wins, City laboured to a win over Newcastle at the Etihad Stadium before beating newly promoted Sheffield United 2-1 at Bramall Lane. Another thumping 5-1 win over Fulham saw Haaland score his first hat trick. Just after the international break, the Citizens came from a goal deficit to beat West Ham United at the London Stadium.
Similarly, in their first UCL game since winning the trophy last season, City put up a fabulous second-half display to beat Red Star Belgrade at home. Alvarez scored twice before Rodri added a cushion goal late on. A routine win over Nottingham Forest followed in the league, but it came at a cost, as Rodri was sent off.
However, the first defeat of the season in all competitions came after that home league win, with Newcastle winning the tight contest at St. James’ Park 1-0. Another loss, a first in the Premier League, followed at Wolves before they rallied back to beat RB Leipzig in the UCL to maintain their 100% start. Meanwhile, Arsenal handed them their second successive defeat in the Premier League in the top-of-the-table clash at the Emirates.
On Saturday at the Eithaad, Alvarez and Haaland scored within the first 20 minutes of their Premier League match against Brighton and Hove Albion, and the 2-1 win was more comfortable than the score line suggested, despite a late red card for Akanji, to put the Citizens back on top of the league.
On the other hand, Young Boys are just regular campaigners in Europe’s competitions. The Swiss Champions began their title defence with two wins and two draws from their first four games. They defeated Lausanne 2-1 in their first game of the season, Cedric Itten scored a stoppage-time winner. That result was followed by a 2-2 draw with Yverdon in just the second league game of the season.
Young Boys then returned to winning ways with a comfortable 5-2 bashing of Winterthur. Joel Monteiro, Itten, Silevre Ganvoula, Fabian Rieder and Jean-Pierre Nsame got the goals. While the wins have come in home games, Young Boys failed to crack away games as they forced Luzern to a share of the spoils.
Eventually, a first win on the road came in the Swiss Cup, a 5-0 stroll over Breitenrain. Young Boys then made it to the UEFA Champions League group stages via the playoffs, in which they defeated Maccabi Haifa 3-0 on aggregate.
After making their way into the group stage of a European competition, Young Boys returned to winning ways by beating Servette and Xamax in the Swiss Cup and League, respectively. However, they suffered an opening-day defeat to RB Leipzig at home in the UEFA Champions League. On the home front, they won 4-1 against Lugano before suffering a first league defeat since May at the hands of St. Gallen.
Since then, they have won two of their past three games, including two successive wins in the Swiss Super League and a draw away at Red Star Belgrade. We will know in 24 hours if that run continues in the home game of the group stage in Switzerland tonight.
This will be Young Boys’ first-ever trip to the Etihad in this competition, and they will be hoping some luck shines on them on Wednesday night. The last Swiss team to visit the Etihad was Basel, and they got a win that could strengthen YB’s hopes.
Match tickets
The return match at Etihad Stadium kicks off on Tuesday, 7th November, at 8 PM UK time, and it will be shown live on TNT Sports, with coverage starting from around 7 PM.
The Champions League is usually unique, and this fantastic Manchester venue will host this match-day four clash between the champions of Europe and the Swiss champions.
Getting tickets for Manchester City vs Young Boys tickets should not be difficult, given the quality of the opposition. Hence, you are advised to search ticket reselling sites should they be expectedly sold out on each club’s channels.
Team news
Line-ups
Erling Haaland has gone through a short blip and will be looking to return to scoring after another international window, where he grabbed a couple of goals. He scored 12 goals in the Champions League last season, more than any other player and has been scoring for fun in the Premier League. Julian Alvarez could start alongside the Norwegian striker, while Kevin De Bruyne (hamstring) and John Stones are notable absentees.
Manchester City: Ederson; Walker, Dias, Akanji, Ake; Rodri, Nunez; Doku, Alvarez, Foden; Haaland
Young Boys are fond of deploying a 4-3-1-2 formation and might opt for a change here because Etihad is difficult to travel to. Apart from Kastriot Imeri, a long-term absentee, they have a number of players available to choose from.
Young Boys: Racioppi; Janko, Amenda, Camara, Benito; Niasse, Lauper, Garcia; Ugrinic; Elia, Itten.
Prediction
The enormous pressure around Guardiola to deliver the UEFA Champions League has decreased since last season’s success. Regardless, they have been excellent across all games this campaign. One thing about City is that they get to score many goals, and Young Boys will need to stop them from doing that.
Of the five games Young Boys have played against English opposition away from home, they have only avoided defeat once. The Citizens are wounded now and might come all out to seal progression with two games to go.
Manchester City 3-0 Young Boys
