Champions League Preview: Can Man City overcome back to-back Champions PSG?

Sky Sports News

Champions League Preview: Can Man City overcome back-to-back Champions PSG?

On Sky Sports News, the host and European football expert review Viking's 3-3 draw with Bayern and preview Man City vs PSG, Liverpool at LASK and Roma vs Real Madrid. The guest says Bayern must improve to win another Champions League, sees Man City in slightly better form than PSG, expects another big Haaland night, doubts LASK can trouble Liverpool, predicts a warm reception for Mourinho, and says Real Madrid have a strong record against Italian sides but are not playing as fluently as Barcelona.

► Subscribe to Sky Sports News: http://bit.ly/SkySportsNewsSub ► Watch Sky Sports with NOW: https://bit.ly/NOWSkySportsYT Dougie Critchley previews Manchester City's chances against PSG this evening and discusses this round of fixtures in the 2026/27 Champions League season. SkySportsNews SkySports football ► For the latest developments on this story: https://qrcode.skysports.com/skysports/topstories ► For the latest transfer news: https://qrcode.skysports.com/skysports/TransferCentre More from Sky Sports on YouTube: ► Sky Sports: http://bit.ly/SkySportsSub ► Sky Sports Boxing: http://bit.ly/SSBoxingSub ► Sky Sports Cricket: http://bit.ly/SubscribeSkyCricket ► Sky Sports Darts: https://bit.ly/SubSkySportsDarts ► Sky Sports Football: http://bit.ly/SSFootballSub ► Sky Sports F1: http://bit.ly/SubscribeSkyF1 ► Sky Sports Golf: https://bit.ly/SubscribeSkySportsGolf ► Sky Sports Premier League: https://bit.ly/SubscribeSkySportsPL ► Sky Sports Retro: http://bit.ly/SkySportsRetroSub ► Sky Sports WSL: https://bit.ly/SubscribeSkySportsWSL ► TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@skysportsnews ► X: https://x.com/SkySportsNews ► Website: https://www.skysports.com ► To enquire about licensing Sky Sports content, you can find out more here: https://www.skysports.com/more-sports/news/31754/11434270/license-sky-sports-footage

Transcript

Well, it was another bumper night of Champions League football, wasn't it? And to take us through all of this, I'm pleased to say our European football expert Dougie Critley joins us now to look ahead to more English games involved, uh, English teams involved in the competition. Um, look, we want to just reflect quickly on on last night. 33 draw between Viking, Viking, who and Bayern Munich. Is it one of the biggest shocks you think in sort of recent Champions League? >> Well, you say Viking who and it's a fair point because Viking were a second tier Norwegian side back in 2018. This is their first year in the Champions League since 9293 and they went 2-0 up against Bayern Munich on the night. Bayern then pegged them back to 3-2. Looked like the game was done and dusted, but Michael Alisa was sent off for two quickfire yellow cards, the second of which for throwing the ball in the face of an opponent. Viking then equalize uh in the 90th minutes through Hugans. An amazing result for them. As for Bayern, they are unbeaten so far this season, but just three clean sheets in nine games. Harry Kane though, two goals on the night. He's now scored in nine consecutive Champions League fixtures. Only got three games to break the record. Looks like it might be challenging though because their next two games, Bayern, are against Arsenal and Atletico Madrid. And they have to play a lot better than this if they want to win another Champions League this year. But amazing result for Viking. Yeah, it is, isn't it? The underdog. Way to go. Turning our attentions tonight, this blockbuster game between Man City and PSG, which is at the Etiad. Another big night for Erling Harland, do we predict? >> Yeah, could be. I mean, at the moment, he is the joint top scorer in Champions League history for Man City on 36 goals, level with Sergio Aguero. His goal scoring record in the Champions League, absolutely ridiculous. 59 goals in 59 Champions League games. And you can see the company that he's now ahead of, level with Sergio Aguero, of course, who didn't nearly have the same goals per game ratio. The only player in Champions League or European Cup history that comes anywhere close to Erling Harland's one goal per Champions League game is G Miller, who only played 35 games in the European Cup. Absolutely phenomenal stuff from Erling Harland. And I know there's been a lot of talk about what's going on off the pitch, rightly so, with the ruling uh and the guilty verdict handed through uh by that investigation. But on the pitch, Man City have been absolutely imperious so far this season under Enzo Moresca. Just one defeat so far, which came in the Community Shield. Since then, eight wins from eight. They won that opening Champions League game fairly comfortably uh against FC Porto 2-0il with a brace from Erling Harland. And they're coming up against a PSG side that are the back-to-back champions in this competition. Tough test, but they've got off to a slow start in Liga. Uh they didn't win their first three league games. They've won their last three. they have been rotating fairly heavily uh with the likes of Usman Dembele and Nuno Mench being rested on occasion as well. So this is an interesting time. I think Man City are actually the side in slightly better form than PSG. >> And how about how PSG get on as the defending champions of of course are going to want to try and lift that trophy again. But do they not have a great record at Manchester City? >> No, not a particularly good record whatsoever. Uh and you know, you can see it on screen now. three defeats uh in their last four games at Man City. I would say a fair amount has changed since they last went to Man City as well. They beat them 4-2 at home last season, having been 2-0 down. They're actually looking to become just the second side in European Cup history to go 10 games unbeaten against English sides. They beat Aston Villa and Liverpool and Arsenal in that time. Of course, and they've generally risen to any occasion in the Champions League, but particularly from sort of February, March onwards is when they've really come into their own. They are slightly undercooked at this stage of the season and with Man City with the momentum behind them having got that comfortable three-0 win at Anfield of the weekend, they'll be hoping to continue their recent Champions League record and go two from two. >> Okay. And for those of us who get up very early in the morning, it's great because we've got football a little bit earlier tonight, haven't we? Liverpool kicking off um this evening as they travel to last. It's an Austrian side. Um can they pose a threat against Andoni Areola's side? >> Well, potentially. and Iola's side, sorry, aren't at full strength. They lost their first game under him at the weekend against Man City. They were very much in that game up until the Ryan Graven red card, but Seosai is out. Gakpo's out. Each's out or expected to be out those three. Seosa might be returning, but they're definitely not at full strength. As for Lask, they are the Austrian champions. They won the Austrian Bundesliga last year, finishing a point ahead of St. Gratz. Uh, but they don't necessarily have the star quality uh that a side like Liverpool do. two years ago they're in the Conference League. They didn't win a game. They lost their opening game against AEK Athens. Their star players probably Sasa Kalazic who was at Wolves a few years ago. You might well remember uh that he did his ACL very early on at his time at Wolves and he's done his ACL two times more in the last five years. So an amazing achievement for him to be getting back to playing football once again. But I just don't think they've got the star quality to trouble a Liverpool side even if Liverpool aren't at full strength. Oh, right. Let's talk star quality because we have got Roma. Oh, against Real Madrid. Jose Mourinho's return to the Stadia Olympico backers. Madrid manager. Do you expect him to get good reception? >> Yeah, absolutely. I mean, Mourinho more so than probably in any other country in Europe is absolutely fetted by Italian fans after winning the treble with Inter Milan back in 200910. He went to Roma. He won them the Conference League in 20 2022 becoming the first manager to win the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League title. That was Roma's first title in 14 years. Their current manager, Gaspirini, has actually given him a lot of credit for upping the mentality and improving the mentality of his current squad. Roma have got off to a good start this season, but they did drop time drop points for the second time at the weekend against Ko in a nil nil draw. and they're coming up against a Real Madrid side that have a pretty imperious record against Italian sides in the competition. They've won 20 of their last 22 games. They are though, Real Madrid six points behind Barcelona at the start of this season in La Liga. Barcelona have been absolutely imperious. They've gone eight from eight. Real Madrid, they did beat Villa Royale at the weekend, but there was that big story with Mourinho refusing to do any press conferences at the end after Venicious Jr. uh was sent off for pulling the hair of Nathan Cibba. So, there's been a few issues behind the scenes at Real Madrid not playing as fluently as the likes of Barcelona, but they're looking to back up a win against Inter Milan in their opening fixture against another Italian side tonight. >> Yeah, brilliant stuff, Diggy. Thank you.