Sports Blog 10/04/2018: UEFA Champions League Quarter-Final 2nd Leg Preview – Manchester City vs Liverpool, Tuesday 10th April 2018

Suffering their first proper wobble all season, is there any way Man City can mount a Champions League campaign-rescuing comeback against Liverpool on Tuesday?

Though last week wasn’t the first time City had lost in Europe, or indeed the league, in 2017/18, it was the first time they’ve suffered consecutive defeats. Pep Guardiola’s men were properly shaken in the 1st leg against Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp picking up his second City scalp of the season. That 3-0 win saw the visitors fail to log a single shot on target despite having 66% of possession. It’s also notable that all 3 of Liverpool’s goals came in the first half, a period that controversially saw Raheem Sterling sat on the bench.



While a bitter, bitter disappointment, City nevertheless had the chance to temper their European pain by winning the Premier League title with a victory over Man United on Saturday. And everything was going perfectly, with City entering the interval with a 2-0 lead thanks to Vincent Kompany and Ilkay Gundogan. However, Guardiola came to pay for feeling a weakened side – Sergio Aguero, Kevin de Bruyne and Gabriel Jesus all came on as subs in the final quarter – as United roared back to secure a remarkable 3-2 comeback.

Guardiola will be praying that his unsuccessful weekend risk pays dividends on Tuesday. If that’s to happened then Sergio Aguero, Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling – at Super Mega PGMs of 65-75, 54-62 and 31-37 respectively – need to be in world-beating form. In other words, the kind of form that saw City beat Liverpool 5-0 at the Etihad last September.

As for the Reds, they followed up their season-best performance in ignoble fashion, somehow unable to beat Everton just days after dumping on the champions-elect. Though, perhaps it’s not that surprising, given that Klopp chose to rest Mohamed Salah, who has scored nearly a third of Liverpool’s league goals and sits at a Super Mega PGM of 27-32.

For most sides, a 3-0 deficit, without the comfort of an away goal, would be insurmountable odds. But this is City, a team that, however fragile they are at the moment, aren’t strangers to going big. Spreadex are offering a Man City/Liverpool Goal Supremacy spread of 1.25-1.45 alongside a Total Goals spread of 3.35-3.55.