“The early stages of this Champions League tie could be really tense, both of these sides face disaster if they exit at this early stage – especially Manchester City who are only really fighting on 2 fronts now with the Champions League and the FA Cup.

We saw this tension in Manchester City’s 3-1 win over Club Brugge in their most recent Champions League game, Pep Guardiola’s side were very passive in the first half and only reacted when Club Brugge took the lead, there should be more of that tension in this tie with Real Madrid also having an average campaign by their standards so far. 

Bellingham is averaging 2.47 fouls won per 90 across his 8 Champions League appearances this campaign, he’s been really effective in the competition in providing 5 goal contributions across these appearances. His foul record is a result of strong ball carrying through central areas of the pitch, this could be key in this game with City currently really struggling to stop teams cutting through them on the transition.

Vinicius offers value to score or assist, especially with Matheus Nunes likely his opposite number – a clear downgrade on Kyle Walker who has been able to match the Brazilian for large periods of the teams’ recent meetings.”