Group C is 90% of the way there but right now it’s not fully resolved. It would take quite a swing but Manchester City could qualify in second place or they could be beaten by Borussia Mönchengladbach and only end up in the Europa League. Alternatively, a strong Celtic win combined with a Barcelona win could see the Scottish Champions qualify for the Europa League and continue their European involvement into the New Year.
These are fairly unlikely outcomes. I fully expect Barcelona to win their game and for Celtic to finish bottom of the group after another win by Manchester City.
Manchester City had a bit of a meltdown against Chelsea at the weekend and the upcoming suspensions for Aguero and Fernandinho will hurt their bid for the title in Pep Guardiola’s first season in charge. That should mean that both players will be fresh later on in the season as the games just become more important. Perhaps the suspensions at this time of year may actually end up helping.
It’s certainly not going to effect this game or City’s European ambitions.
Celtic recently claimed their 100th title when they won the League Cup against Aberdeen. They’ll be back in Europe next season as no other side in the Scottish Premiership looks capable of challenging them for the title right now. They’ll be hoping that they can put in a better showing next time around as they’ve disappointed when it counts this season.
The 3-3 draw against Manchester City earlier in the competition will go down as a high point but the 7-0 loss against Barcelona will also live long in the memory and for all the wrong reasons.
As you can imagine, the odds for a Manchester City win in this one are quite low, almost prohibitively so. Pinnacle are at the top end of the market with their offering of 1.35. Although I do think there is a sliver of value in that, it really is quite negligible so I’m more interested in looking for a half-time winner. At odds of 1.75 with SBOBet, I think there is enough there to get me interested in this selection. That selection would have been enough in all but 1 of Manchester City’s league wins this season, it also would have been a winner in the weekend\’s loss against Chelsea but I’m sure that’s no comfort to Pep and the gang.
Celtic showed earlier in the season that they can get some joy from City’s backline but with any hope of qualifying extinguished, I think this may be a regulation win for the boys in blue on their home ground.
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