It's the moment we've all been waiting for: the Champions League's League Phase is drawing to an end tonight, as Club makes its way to the English reigning champions Manchester City. Find out all there is to know here!
The Man in Black
A Spanish ref for tonight's clash in Spaniard Mr. José María Sánchez Martínez, backed by his compatriotsMr. Raúl Cabañero and Mr. Iñigo Prieto; fourth official will be Mr. César Soto Grado. In charge of VAR will be Mr. Alejandro Hernández, backed by Mr. Carlos del Cerro Grande.
Observing the referees for UEFA will be Mr. Stefan Johannesson, while Mr. Joseph O'Brien will be representing UEFA.
A UEFA elite ref from the South East of Spain (Lorca), Mr. Sánchez has been handling the whistle on the top stage in Spain for ten years now, leading international games since 2017. Tonight's game will be his first encounter with Club Brugge. In earlier seasons, he had games involving Ghent, Anderlecht, Union as well as the Red Devils.
For the 22nd time in Europe, a Spanish referee will be in charge of a game involving Club.
The Fixture
Manchester City's Etihad Stadium will be the venue for Club Brugge's final mission in the UCL League phase.
Some numbs and figs as to this game:
- It will be the 369th game in Europe for Club, whereas Man City will be appearing a 208th time.
- For the 129th time, a Belgian team will be meeting with English opposition.
- Club will be disputing its 104th UEFA Champions League game, 70 of them in the Group Stages.
- For the 11th time, Club is featured in a UCL campaign (group stages), whereas Man City has taken part in 14 campaigns so far.
For the third time the two teams are set to cross swords. On two previous occasions (three seasons ago):
- City beat Club 1-5 at Jan Breydel. The score was already at 0-4 through via João Cancelo, Riyad Mahrez (p), Kyle Walker and Cole Palmer when Hans Vanaken made it 1-4, scoring for the 5th game on a spin in the UCL. Riyad Mahrez put the result beyond doubt with his second of the evening.
- City earned a 4-1 home win later on that season. Phil Foden managed to open the score, but not that long after, Stones tucked a Charles De Ketelaere cross in his own goal. The pressure mounting, City cruised over Club in a second half seeing goals by Riyad Mahrez, Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus.
No wins in 15 games with Club visiting an English side: two draws and 13 defeats the current record. In four earlier home games with Belgian adversaries, Manchester City always won.
During Club's rich history, 11 English players wore the Club jersey:
- In the very early days of Club Brugge KV, William Greenhill, Arthur Potter, Dalton Grant and Charles Grimshaw also joined the local rowing club.
- Three more compatriots followed before WW I: J.F. Brime Perceval, Thomas Ashworth and Joseph Saw.
- The 60ies and 70ies saw Roger Davies, Brian Hill and Ray Clarke join Club.
- Only recently, Josef Bursik manned goal at Club. Unable to gather any playing time, he was sent out on loan to Hibernian FC (Sco) this Summer.
- Back in 2023, Scott Parker was the first Englishman to coach Club, albeit for only a short period of time.
Only two players ever played for both sides.
- Goalkeeper Geert De Vlieger earned his wages at Man City from 2004 until 2006 without appearing in any official game. He ended his playing career back in 2011, having played 25 games for Club in three seasons.
- At the age of 16, Dedryck Boyata joined the City youth ranks. In 35 games at City, he scored once. After that he was sent on loan to Bolton Wanderers (Eng) and FC Twente (Neth), leaving the Cityzens in 2015 for Celtic. Before forfeiting his contract only this Winter, he also played for Club since 2022.
The City Of Manchester Stadium is the team's home ground, commercially also known as the Etihad Stadium, offering room to 55,000 spectators, making it the 10th biggest stadium in the UK. The stadium was opened back in 2002 at the occasion of the Commonweath Games, becoming Manchester City's home turf in the Summer of 2023 after the team moved there from its former ground at Maine Road, where it had been stationed since 1923.
11 points so far for Club Brugge in this CL edition, among others thanks to a win at the hands of Premier League team Aston Villa FC. Last Tuesday, Club equaled its record run of four unbeaten games in a row in the UCL, keeping Juventus FC at bay (0-0). For the third time in this campaign, Club kept a clean sheet, equalling the amount Man City at this point.
In 25th position right now, only a victory will do for City against Club to avoid a very premature demise. Kicking off their campaign with a 7 out of 9, the Cityzens have been unable to win ever since. Against Feyenoord the team couldn't hold on to a 3-0 lead (3-3), and the away games at Sporting Lisbon (4-1), Juventus (2-0) and PSG (4-2) all ended in defeat.
With a number of results not exactly going Club's way last week, Club's 11 points might still not be enough to make it to the next play-off round. Four other fixtures might have a say in whether Club progresses, should Club faulter at City:
- There is a winner in the game between Stuttgart and PSG
- Benfica loses to Juventus
- Sporting Lisbon loses at home to Bologna
- Less evident: PSV loses to Liverpool at home with 6 goals more than Club at City.
- Dinamo Zagreb also cannot beat AC Milan by a five goal margin.
The Opponent
Founded in 1880, the Sky Blues won their first prize back in 1904, bringing home the FA Cup for the first in seven times. 1936 and 1968 saw their first two league wins, but ever since the Abu Dhabi Group took over, things were on an uprecedented rise with 8 Premier League wins in 13. 2023 saw the team's first UCL win, beating Inter Milan (1-0).
Erling Haaland has scored six so far; Matheus Nunes has had the most assists to his name for City (3 assists).
Last season:
Man City was crowned English champions for a tenth time, outdoing Arsenal by two points and Liverpool by nine. No double for City, however, seeing the FA Cup go to city rivals United (2-1).
The UCL saw City win its group with the maximum of points. FC Copenhagen was then ousted, but in the Round of 8 later winners Real Madrid proved stronger after penalty shootouts.
With 38 goals in 45 official games, Erling Haaland again became the team's top scorer, while Kevin De Bruyne made it to 18 assists.
At this point in the season, City is in fourth place in the Premier League, having harvested 41 points, trailing 12 behind runaway leaders Liverpool FC. Last weekend, City came out on top in the clash with Chelsea FC (3-1). The Round of 32 in the FA Cup sets the team up with an away game at Leyton Orient, while the League Cup has already drawn to an end after the team had been eliminated by Tottenham Hotspur in the Round of 16.
After trophy strewn runs at FC Barcelona and Bayern Munich, the Spaniard Pep Guardiola (54) has been Man City coach since 2016, winning plenty of silverware: the Champions League (2023), the UEFA Super Cup (2023), the Premier League (6x, the last one only last season), the FA Cup (2x, the last one in 2023), the League Cup (4x, the last one in 2021) and the Community Shield (3x, the last one in 2024).
No surprises when it comes to who is the team's top scorer this season: with 18 PL goals and 6 UCL goals, Norwegian Erling Haaland tops the table at City. The most assists have been set up by Matheus Nunes (8: 4 PL, 3 UCL, 1 FA Cup).
The team's skipper is our compatriot and City legend (oooh) Kevin De Bruyne. Currently in the top 10 of players with the most games at City, he has gathered many assist records.
Another Belgian currently at City is Jérémy Doku; the fiery winger will not be available for the game, out injured.
After seven and a half years at City, Kyle Walker (34) made the move to AC Milan (on a loan spell).
The following players have joined City during the Winter Window (all of them not eligible for the game against Club Brugge):
- Defenders Abdukudir Khusanov (20, Uzb) and Vítor Reis (19, Bra)
- Forward Omar Marmoush (25, Egy)
A 1-1 draw was all that was in it for Club against KV Kortrijk last weekend. Club is still having a great run, unbowed for 20 games on end. A non losing streak only outdone four times in the past 75 years.
Striking detail: Phil Foden is the only one of the goal scorers back in 2021 to still feature at City. Three players were witness to the two encounters back then, i.e. Simon Mignolet, Hans Vanaken and Brandon Mechele.
The game at Manchester will be the 50th in the reign of Nicky Hayen (30W, 12D, 7L). Gustaf Nilsson's penalty goal last Saturday was the 100th goal scored under Hayen.
City's non defeat streak at the Etihad is impressive, withstanding defeat in 33 games now (28W 5D). In the last four home games, however, City only came out victorious once.
With 14 chances created so far in this season's UCL, Maxim De Cuyper and Christos Tzolis record the highest number for a Club player ever since the totals have been registered. Having been booked twice, Joaquin Seys, Michal Skoras and Hugo Vetlesen are in the danger zon. Another yellow would mean they miss out on the next encounter.
With Man City on the brink of elimination, the eyes of the world will be on this game. No doubt this will draw the highest number of spectators in the history fo Club Brugge since the UCL game against PSG back in 2021 (1-1), when Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Neymar joined forces for the first time.
Should Club Brugge make it to the next round, it will be part of the draw on Friday (12h):
- A new system has been set up, with the final ranking in the league phase determining the play off encounters. The team ending in 23rd or 24th place will be playing against 9 or 10, 21/22 vs 11/12, 19/20 vs 13/14, and 17/18 vs 15/16.
- Those teams ending in 9th to 16th position play their return game at their home turf.
- This means all teams will know which of two teams they are set to play, and whether they will first be playing at home or away.
Milestones
- Raphael Onyedika could be playing a 120th game at Club Brugge.
- Joel Ordóñez is up for a 60th appearance at Club.
- For Joaquin Seys and Ardon Jashari, this might be game 30 at Club.
- Bjorn Meijer might be featuring on the European stage for the 20th time at Club.
- This could be the 80th European encounter for Simon Mignolet: 25 at Liverpool FC (Eng) and 54 at Club.
- The clash could be Ardon Jashari's tenth in Europe: 3 at FC Luzern (Swi) and 6 at Club.