Manchester City vs Bayern Munich

Manchester City’s quest to win an elusive first Champions League title faces a stern test as perennial Bundesliga champions touch down at the Etihad Stadium for the first leg of this heavyweight quarter-final tie.

Manchester City didn’t break a sweat as they finished top of this season’s Champions League Group G without losing (W4, D2) before they hammered Bayern’s fellow Bundesliga rivals RB Leipzig 8-1 on aggregate in the round of 16. An intimidating 7-0 second-leg win at home forms part of Man City’s outrageous eight-match winning streak in all competitions, bookended by a 4-1 thumping of Premier League strugglers Southampton at the weekend. On top of that, the ‘Citizens’ stretched their jaw-dropping run to 24 consecutive unbeaten home games in major European competitions (W22, D2), setting themselves up nicely for this blockbuster contest. But even though they’ve won two of their three previous home meetings with Bayern in the Champions League (L1), this will be an arduous task for Pep Guardiola’s high-flyers.

On the other hand, visiting Bayern Munich headed into springtime Champions League fixtures as the only side to have won all six group matches before ousting Ligue 1 juggernauts PSG 3-0 on aggregate in the opening knockout round. Since suffering four straight defeats away to English clubs in the Champions League, the ‘Bavarians’ have only lost two of their ten such trips since (W6, D2), including three victories on their last four visits to the country. New boss Thomas Tuchel has had a mixed start to his managerial tenure at the Allianz Arena, as his men have won both Bundesliga outings but bowed out of the DFB-Pokal last week, courtesy of a 2-1 home loss to Freiburg, the very side they defeated 1-0 over the weekend. That victory should boost Bayern’s confidence as they look to build on an impressive 63% progression rate in the Champions League quarter-final ties (W20, L12).