Manchester City vs. Sporting CP 3/9/22 UEFA Champions League Soccer Pick, Predictions, and Odds

Manchester City is hosting Sporting CP at Etihad Stadium in the second leg of Round of 16 in the UEFA Champions League. City is in excellent form overall, but after they embarrassed United this past weekend, that form has additionally improved. Sporting is one of the best teams in Portugal, and they are in solid form, but they don’t stand a chance against City.

As I’ve mentioned, City is in amazing form, they are still at the top of the EPL, and they just scored 4 goals against United in the Manchester derby in the EPL this past weekend. City is still at the top, but Liverpool is closing in, and the difference is now only 6 points. In the Champions League, City has beaten Sporting 0-5 in the first leg, and their job is pretty much done, but that doesn’t mean they won’t take this game seriously. Mahrez has scored 6 goals for City so far in the Champions League, while Concelo has added 3 assists. City is the team with an insane depth, they have a fantastic defense capable of playing both ways, they have a great offense that is scoring a lot of goals without a classical striker, and that is their biggest strength. At the moment, City is the biggest favorite to win the Champions League.

Sporting is trying to catch up to Porto in the Primeira Liga, and they might do it because there are a lot of games left, and now that they will be out of the Champions League, Sporting can focus solely on the Primeira Liga. With only 16 conceded goals, Sporting is the best defensive team in Portugal, but that is not enough for the Champions League. After losing to City in the first leg 0-5 at home, Sporting’s hopes of advancing are pretty much gone, but I don’t think they will just surrender in this game. Goncalves is the leading goalscorer for Sporting with 4 goals, while Paulinho added 3 goals. After this game in the Champions League, Sporting has a few easier games in the Primeira Liga which they should use to get closer to Porto because let’s be honest, they can’t harm City in this game.

In the past, Sporting has had some success against City at home, but that was a different City team. We might see Sporting getting on the scoreboard, even though chances of that are low. It’s hard to find value in this game, but I like first-half goals.