Midfielder Kevin de Bruyne returned to training this week but is still recovering from the knee injury he picked up in August and will not play. Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero is fit to play against Hoffenheim in Tuesday’s Champions League tie.
He limped off after scoring in their 2-0 win over Brighton on Saturday but was OK to take part in training. Claudio Bravo, Fabian Delph and Eliaquim Mangala are injured, while Benjamin Mendy is also a doubt.
Aguero has been playing with a foot injury and City boss Pep Guardiola, whose side face title rivals Liverpool in the Premier League on Sunday, will choose between the Argentine or Gabriel Jesus up front.
“Aguero’s here because the doctors say he is able. He is much better but he still has pain,” said Guardiola. “Tuesday we are going to decide if he plays or Gabriel.”
Hoffenheim are expected to be without captain Kevin Vogt because of a thigh injury, as well as defenders Ermin Bicakcic and Havard Nordtveit. The inexperienced trio of Stefan Posch, Kevin Akpoguma and Justin Hoogma are likely to replace them.
City will be looking to recover from their shock 2-1 loss at home to Lyon in their first Group F match two weeks ago. “In the Champions League we don’t have time to lose a lot of games and we lost the first one,” Guardiola said. “We have five finals and Tuesday is the first one.”
At 31, Nagelsmann is the youngest coach in Champions League history, and he is looking forward to the opportunity to test himself against Guardiola. “I don’t know if it it’s always an advantage to know Pep Guardiola, because then you know that he is doing so much the right way or the best way,” said Nagelsmann.
“It’s not very easy to say exactly how he will set his team. He has different ways to play against different opponents. You can see a lot of similarities in his style, but also see a lot of differences.
“As I said, it’s not easy to approach his style of play, but I have a few ideas.”
MATCH FACTS
Head-to-head
- This will be the first-ever meeting in any competition between Hoffenheim and Manchester City.
- In Hoffenheim’s only previous meeting with English opponents, they lost 6-3 on aggregate to Liverpool in the 2017-18 Champions League qualifying play-off round.
- Manchester City is unbeaten in their last five Champions League games against German opponents (W4, D1) since a 1-0 defeat by Bayern Munich in September 2014. Guardiola was in charge of Bayern that day.
Hoffenheim
- Hoffenheim have won just one of their previous nine matches in European competition (D3 L5), beating Istanbul Basaksehir in last season’s Europa League.
- Florian Grillitsch is looking to become the first ever Austrian player to score in his first two Champions League appearances.
Manchester City
- Manchester City have become the first English side in Champions League history to lose four consecutive matches.
- Manchester City have conceded two or more goals in each of their past four Champions League games; they last conceded at least two goals in five consecutive matches back in March 2014.
- Guardiola met Hoffenheim six times whilst manager of Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga. He won five and lost none of those meetings (D1), scoring two or more goals on each occasion.
- But he has lost five of his last six Champions League games as manager (W1), as many as he lost in his previous 28 combined (W18, D5, L5).
- Aguero has had a hand in more Champions League goals for the Citizens than any other player (32 – 26 goals, six assists). Aguero both scored and assisted in his last Champions League away game v Basel in February 2018.
Source: BBC News
