Copenhagen vs Man City betting tips, BuildABet, best bets and preview
Football betting tips: Champions League
1pt Copenhagen or draw double chance at 10/3 (General)
1pt Oscar Bobb to score anytime at 5/2 (bet365)
Last season's Champions League winners cruised through the group stages, and enter the knockout rounds as the favourites again.
With Kevin de Bruyne and Erling Haaland building match fitness, as well as John Stones, Pep Guardiola's side are looking well set ahead of a defence of their treble in the second half of the season.
They faced Danish side Copenhagen in the group stages last term, hammering them 5-0 at the Etihad and playing out a stalemate away in Denmark. This season, the Danes have proved a handful for Bayern Munich and Manchester United in the group stages, meaning they can take some confidence into this one.
All signs point to a comfortable City win in this first leg but their history away from home in the knockout stages suggests otherwise, as does the potential 'Pep roulette', which could see rotation by the champs.
What are the best bets?
You have to go back to February 2022 for the last time City won a knockout tie away from home, a comprehensive 5-0 win against Sporting.
Last season, they drew all but one of their away games in the Champions League, never scoring more than once in each of those ties.
Considering all that, it's worth chancing Copenhagen to add to that tally, after all, they managed to hold City on home soil in the group stages last term, owing to a stellar display from Kamil Grabara between the sticks.
The price about COPENHAGEN OR DRAW is worth a bet here.
It may not prove to be the routine City win many are expecting, especially as they may have one eye on the weekend's game against Chelsea.
With possible rotation in mind for this game, youngster OSCAR BOBB TO SCORE ANYTIME is worth a look.
The 20-year-old Norwegian has already scored in the Champions League as well as Premier League this term, with the latter even being nominated for goal of the month for January.
He played all 90 minutes and scored in the 3-2 win against Red Star Belgrade in the group stages and is great value to find the net on Tuesday.
BuildABet @ 35/1
- Copenhagen +1 handicap
- Kevin de Bruyne 1+ assists
- Erling Haaland 2+ shots on target
City's away knockout record, combined with strong home showings by Copenhagen and the prospect of Pep rotating is enough to chance the Danes to avoid defeat.
De Bruyne has assisted in every game he has featured since his injury, starting two and coming off the bench in the other two. Haaland has landed more than two shots on target in 17 of his 29 starts for club and country this season.
Team news
Defender Ruben Dias is suspended for this tie but Guardiola does not have any fresh injury concerns as such.
Meanwhile for Copenhagen, experienced midfielder Lukas Lerager remains suspended whilst Davit Khocholava and Theo Sander are unavailable due to injury. Norwegian full-back Birger Meling is a doubt for the game too.
Familiar names to Premier League fans including keeper Alex Runarssson and former Forest defender Scott McKenna should be expected in the starting XI.
Predicted line-ups
Copenhagen: Grabara; Ankersen, McKenna, Diks, Jelert; Clem, Jensen, Goncalves; Elyounoussi, Claesson, Bardghji
Man City: Ederson; Walker, Stones, Akanji, Lewis; Nunes, Bernardo Silva, De Bruyne, Bobb, Grealish; Haaland
Match facts
- FC København have never beaten Manchester City in four previous meetings in all competitions (D2 L2), drawing both home matches against the Citizens (2-2 in 2008-09 UEFA Cup, 0-0 in last season’s UEFA Champions League).
- Manchester City have never won away against Danish opposition in major European competition, drawing with FC København in 2009 (UEFA Cup) and 2022 (UEFA Champions League), and losing at Aalborg BK in 2009 (UEFA Cup). They did, however, win 1-0 at FC Midtjylland in 2008-09 UEFA Cup qualifying.
- Danish sides have lost all three of their European Cup/UEFA Champions League home games against reigning European champions by an aggregate score of 12-0 - Køge BK 0-5 Bayern Munich in 1976, Aalborg BK 0-3 Manchester United in 2008, and FC Nordsjælland 0-4 Chelsea in 2012.
- This is just FC København’s second appearance in the UEFA Champions League knockout stages – they were eliminated by Chelsea at the round of 16 stage in 2010-11 (0-2 home, 0-0 away).
- Manchester City have won their last eight UEFA Champions League matches, the longest run by an English side in European Cup/Champions League history. The last team to have a longer run were FC Bayern München between 2019 and 2020 (15).
- Despite winning the trophy last season, Manchester City haven’t won any of their last five away games in the UEFA Champions League knockout stages (D4 L1), since beating Sporting CP 5-0 in the round of 16 in 2021-22.
- Manchester City have averaged 70.4% possession in the UEFA Champions League this season; the most of any side. Indeed, there are only five other instances on record (since 2003-04) of a team averaging more than that in a single campaign – four of which were teams managed by Pep Guardiola (Barcelona in 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12 and Bayern Munich in 2015-16).
- 18-year-old Roony Bardghji scored FC København’s winner against Manchester United in the group stages this season. The only teenager to score against two different English clubs in the UEFA Champions League is Kylian Mbappé (Manchester City and Liverpool), while Bardghji could be the first to do so in the same season.
- Julián Álvarez has been involved in six goals in his last five UEFA Champions League appearances for Manchester City (5 goals, 1 assist), despite only starting one of these games. Overall, he’s averaging a goal or assist every 62 minutes in the competition, and one every 31 minutes so far this season.
- Rodri has made more line-breaking passes than any other player in the UEFA Champions League this season (100). In fact, after averaging 13.1 line-breaking passes per 90 minutes in the competition last term, the Manchester City midfielder is currently averaging almost double that this season (25.6 per 90)
Odds correct 1710 GMT (12/02/24)
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