Manchester City will be hoping to secure automatic qualification into the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 as they host Galatasaray in their final league phase match.
The Blues have had mixed results so far, beating Real Madrid at the Bernabeu and smashing Borussia Dortmund at the Etihad as highlights – but also being beaten and outplayed by Bayer Leverkusen and most recently Bodo Glimt.
The most likely way of securing a spot in the top eight of the league phase is if the Blues win and three of PSG,
Newcastle United, Chelsea, Barcelona and Sporting drop points.
City can also catch up with Tottenham, Liverpool and Real Madrid, and have the advantage of goal difference over Atletico Madrid and Atalanta, both of whom are tied on points with them.
Here are five things to look out for from the final day of the league phase:
How do City replace Guehi, Semenyo and Rodri?
Three of City’s best performers in the 2-0 win against Wolves at the weekend aren’t able to play against Galatasaray.
Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi aren’t yet registered to play in the squad, but will be eligible for either the round of 16 or the playoffs.
Semenyo scored City’s second goal on Saturday and Guehi had a really composed debut, so both will be huge misses.
Rodri’s two bookings picked up against Bodo Glimt last Tuesday means he’s suspended, and they could be further weakened by the absence of Nico Gonzalez, who continues to be a fitness doubt.
In Semenyo’s case, City now have an array of fit options they can choose from to replace him. Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and Phil Foden were all benched against Wolves, so we can expect at least one of those three to come back into the side to start.
Guehi has two realistic options, and that’s Nathan Ake and Max Alleyne.
Ake is the more mature head and is left footed (Pep Guardiola likes this from his left sided centre backs) but is playing through an injury with plenty of strapping on and is expected to leave in the summer.
Alleyne, meanwhile, was arguably at fault for both of Bodo’s first two goals and doesn’t have the big game experience Ake has. But he was excellent in his first three matches in the senior team after being recalled from loan, especially against Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup semi final first leg.
They could both play, if it means left back Nico O’Reilly has to cover for Rodri in midfield. With Nico and Mateo Kovacic injured, O’Reilly is the next best option to step into that position.
At left back, Rayan Ait-Nouri would be another option to step in if O’Reilly has to play in midfield.
It won’t be easy to replace such important players to the squad, but the squad is deep enough that Guardiola will be able to find a way.
The return of Gundogan and Sane
It’ll be a pleasure to see the return of Ilkay Gundogan and Leroy Sane to the Etihad Stadium.
The German pair are both hugely popular amongst the City fanbase, and both joined Galatasaray this summer.
Gundogan captained City to the treble in 2023, and after a season at Barcelona, rejoined for a year last season and played his part by remaining available when plenty around him were injured and out of form.
Sane, meanwhile, effectively left the club seven years ago, but is still fondly remembered on the blue side of Manchester. His final season was spent on the sidelines with an Anterior Cruciate Ligament injury (ACL) before joining Bayern Munich for £55 million.
He won PFA Young Player of the Year in 2018 and scored 52 goals for City in total across three seasons.
Despite both now being in their thirties, they remain quality players who can hope to spoil City’s evening.
Narrow wingers
Last week against Bodo, Guardiola was bemoaning his lack of natural wingers, with Savinho, Semenyo, Jeremy Doku and Oscar Bobb all unavailable.
Even now that Doku is back, I think he won’t start, or if he does, he’ll play in a more narrow position.
Matheus Nunes’s return means City have a better right sided outlet. Ait-Nouri did a decent job there, but he’s left footed so doesn’t really provide the same attacking width that Nunes does.
Foden, Doku, Rayan Cherki and Omar Marmoush all suit the pockets better, so I think Guardiola will look to play to their strengths, particularly seeing as Galatasaray are unlikely to line up playing 4-4-2 (the same system Guardiola said requires wide wingers to break down.)
Galatasaray fans in the home end
At time of writing, tickets are still available for the game on the club’s website. And that’s not to mention tickets you might be able to pick up on Viagogo or any other third party ticketing website.
People trying to sell spare tickets online have been inundated with replies from Galatasaray fans, and City have proven in the last 12 months that they don’t care about who sits in the home end, so long as they’ve paid premium prices.
It could be a potential danger with a lack of real segregation, but hopefully the proper Blues from all around the globe in the home end will cancel out those who will undoubtedly be supporting Galatasaray.
A final day of the season feel
With a lot depending on results elsewhere for City, it’ll be reminiscent of the final day of the Premier League season.
Fans will be checking scores, and some may even be tuning into radios! City are in an unusual position for themselves in that they’ll be the ones hoping results go in their favour.
PSG and Newcastle are playing each other, so a draw in that game would be a great result. Chelsea have a potential banana skin away at Napoli, whilst Frankfurt will be hosting a Tottenham side without Mickey van de Ven and Pedro Porro.
And with the form they’re in, Real Madrid not losing to Benfica is hardly guaranteed.
These are the most likely ways for City to squeak into the top eight but it must be stressed that they can only focus on their own game and securing three points – as it’s more or less impossible to get in with just a draw.
