http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Roberto-c31294 Mancini's men will welcome the Portistas to the Etihad Stadium in the return leg with the aim of preserving their hard-fought 2-1 lead.
Manchester City:
The English Premier League leaders will be refreshed after their weekend off and having not played a game since that night in Portugal, they will be raring to go in Manchester.
City go into the tie with a superb home form and are surely the favourites to progress to the next round.
FC Porto:
The Dragons will be overjoyed with Vitoria Guimaraes’ win over Benfica, which places the club two points behind their Lisbon rivals. Vitor Pereira’s men themselves grabbed all three points over the weekend with a comfortable 3-1 victory over Vitoria Setubal and escaped unscathed in terms of injuries.
Team News:
Manchester City:
City go into the game with a full-squad and keeping Premier League clash with Blackburn http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Mancini-c23323 may choose to make some precautionary changes in his starting line-up.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/James-Milner-c17706 could slot in on the wing and the centre of the park respectively.
FC Porto:
The visitors looked set to cause an upset when they dominated proceedings in the first half in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Portugal-c2984, but City’s perseverance secured a win, when the game looked poised for a defeat.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Danilo-c10159, who suffered ligament damage to his knee while attempting a tackle on Yaya Toure.
However, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Eliaquim-Mangala-c12266 should be drafted in his stead to bombard from the right flank.
Otherwise, the side remains unchanged with Hulk up top accompanied by his usual partners in crime, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Silvestre-Varela-c33505 and James Rodriguez.
Lucho Gonzalez and Joao Moutinho will be looking to orchestrate proceedings just like they did in the first leg, but the City fans will be prepared to jeer their opponents at the slightest opportunity.
The current holders of the UEFA Europa League face a stern test of their abilities against the English outfit and manager Pereira has urged his side to take any chances that come their way in Manchester.
"The game will be well-balanced, like the first match. We played better at certain stages, as did they. We know our strong point is our collective as a team. We have no magic touches; we have to put the effort in."
"We know Manchester City are a team inspired at the moment, they are top of the league and they are a very well-balanced team. They play well going forward and defend well. We have to take our chances and use the spaces well.
"I am sure Manchester City will not take many risks and wait for the game to develop, see how it goes,” he said.
Key Players:
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Hulk-c16436
Like always, the Primeira Liga side will be looking towards their Brazilian star to cause mayhem in the attacking third. With his direct attitude, Hulk was able to grind out an assist last time out but will want to be involved more at the Etihad.
Manchester City: http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/David-Silva-c10601
The Spaniard was relatively subdued in Portugal but with the backing of the home crowd, his performance is sure to be better than before.
Prediction:
Manchester City 1-1 FC Porto
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