Manchester City FC vs. FC Porto 10/21/20 - UEFA Champions League Picks & Predictions

Last Updated: 10/19/2020 at 3:00 PM ET

Manchester City welcomes Porto to the Etihad on Wednesday for the opening fixture of the 2020-21 Champions League group stage for both clubs. City manager Pep Guardiola continues his quest to win a Champions League title for the first time with Manchester City. The citizens are coming off a 1-0 victory at the weekend over Arsenal in an English Premier League match. Last season, Manchester City was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Lyon on away goals following a 6-6 aggregate.

 Manchester City has started its top-flight English league campaign poorly after losing the opener 5-2 to Leicester City and suffering a draw with Leeds United. However, the club was able to take all three points over the weekend against Arsenal on a strike by Raheem Sterling. Manchester City will once again be without star Kevin De Bruyne as the Belgian International remains sidelined for at least two more weeks if not more. Sergio Aguero has returned from an injury and will team up with Sterling to lead the line.

Porto looks to win a second straight Primeira Liga title for the first time since 2012 but must hold off top challenger Benfica, who is already five points ahead of the reigning champions in the early stages of the domestic league. Porto also lost to Maritmo 3-2 earlier this month. Nonetheless, the Portuguese champions must now focus on European action after last year being knocked out in qualifying by FC Krasnodar.

However, Porto has reached the knockout stage of this elite competition for Europe in three of the past four seasons but with Olympiakos and Marseille also in Group C, it will be a battle to the end to finish in the top two. Porto will have two players missing as both Mouhamed Mbaye and Ivan Marcano are not fit as they have injuries to their ACL. 

Both Manchester City and Porto have started their domestic seasons under-par and both hope to start the European Champions League season in a better way. Manchester City has several absentees on the club and that will hurt, but Porto has a horrendous record on English soil and the Citizens will come up big at home and start their Champions League campaign with a victory. Final Score Prediction, Manchester City wins 3-1 

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