Our next opponents: A force of nature and many more aces in attack

Position

After four consecutive wins in competitive matches, Manchester City suffered their first defeat last Saturday. On Matchday 12 of the Premier League, the Blues lost 2-1 at Newcastle United, their next but one opponents in the UEFA Champions League. The crowd at St James' Park witnessed a fast-paced, high-class game in which Erling Haaland missed a great chance to put the visitors ahead after just three minutes - it would have been his 100th goal in his 109th Premier League appearance for City. After an intense goalless first half, the Magpies took the lead after just over an hour. Ruben Dias equalised for City almost immediately, before Newcastle scored again just 120 seconds later to make it 2-1. The Manchester side, who had shone in their 3-0 home win over Liverpool before the international break, had to watch Chelsea leapfrog them in the table after their fourth defeat of the season. Coach Pep Guardiola's men are now third behind second-placed Chelsea and leaders Arsenal.

In the Champions League, City recently showed their true class in a 4-1 win against Borussia Dortmund. After a strong start by Borussia, the Blues increasingly took control. Phil Foden twice gave BVB goalkeeper Gregor Kobel no chance with well-placed shots from distance. Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki scored the other goals for the hosts, who dominated for long periods. Waldemar Anton had reduced the deficit to 3-1 for Dortmund in the interim.

With four matchdays complete, City are still unbeaten in the Champions League. Prior to the win against Dortmund, the ten-time English champions had beaten Napoli 2-0 at home at the City of Manchester Stadium, drawn 2-2 at Monaco and won 2-0 at Villarreal. The Blues are currently fourth in the table on ten points. "A huge compliment and much respect for these players, because we're in a good position and far better than last season," said Guardiola after the game against BVB. "With a win against Leverkusen and a few more victories, we could finish in the top eight."

PersonNEL

Guardiola is currently in his tenth season in charge of Man City. The 54-year-old Catalan celebrated a special anniversary in the 3-0 win against Liverpool: it was his 1,000th competitive match as a coach. During this time, he's won an impressive 40 trophies with just three clubs - Barcelona, Bayern Munich and (since 2016) Manchester City - winning a total of 716 games. Now he's set to reach another milestone. The game against the Werkself will be Guardiola's 100th Champions League game as coach of MCFC. His record so far: 62 wins, 19 draws, 18 defeats. Only Sir Alex Ferguson (190 with Manchester United) and Arsène Wenger (177 with Arsenal) have made more appearances with an English team in the Champions League or European Cup.

Guardiola will have almost a full complement of players to choose from against Bayer 04 on Tuesday. Only Croatian midfielder Mateo Kovacic is out due to an ankle injury. Rodri's participation is also in doubt. The European champion and 2024 Ballon d'Or winner has been unavailable more frequently recently. The Spaniard has suffered a number of setbacks since returning from a cruciate ligament rupture this season and recently had to pull out of the World Cup qualifiers against Georgia and Turkey. Rodri will now be carefully integrated back into the team.

Gianluigi Donnarumma will play in goal for the Blues. The Italy captain arrived in Manchester from Paris Saint-Germain in the summer. Former Leipzig player Josko Gvardiol is a first-choice pick in the back four. The same applies to the Portugal internationals Ruben Dias and Matheus Nunes as well as England's John Stones and left-back Nico O'Reilly, who loves to get forward. In recent weeks, Rodri has been replaced in the number six position by his compatriot Nico Gonzalez. Phil Foden, captain Bernardo Silva and new signing Tijjani Reijnders (AC Milan) provide the attacking thrust in midfield, while Jeremy Doku (left) and Brazilian Savinho have an abundance of pace on the wings. Rayan Cherki, who was signed from Lyon in the summer, has also impressed there. Leading the Blues' line, force of nature Erling Haaland is of course certain to play. Omar Marmoush, who moved to Manchester from Eintracht Frankfurt in January this year, has mostly only come off the bench this season due to injury problems.

ProblemS

When the Blues are put under pressure, spaces and opportunities open up for the opposition. Both Newcastle and, at times, Dortmund demonstrated this recently. Nick Woltemade alone created three great chances in the Magpies' 2-1 win last weekend. Newcastle embarrassed Guardiola's team several times in the first 45 minutes in particular. Borussia also had strong phases against City, preventing the hosts from gaining any traction with their high pressing, especially in the opening minutes. And even after Anton scored to make it 3-1, BVB created a few good chances to make the game exciting once again. With Rodri not yet fully fit again, Man City lack defensive stability in central midfield at times.

PERFORmeRS

The stats speak for themselves: Haaland has already scored 19 goals in 16 matches this season - 14 in the Premier League and 5 in the Champions League. The Norway international is a phenomenon and is set to make his 50th appearance in Europe's premier club competition against the Werkself. The 25-year-old has already scored 54 goals in a total of 52 appearances in this competition (31 for Manchester City, 15 for Borussia Dortmund and 8 for Salzburg). This puts the striker in the top ten of the Champions League's all-time goalscoring list.

Of course, the 1.95-metre man is not the only top-class attacking player in the Blues' ranks. One of the best providers in the team is Dutchman Tijjani Reijnders, who's already notched up three assists in the Champions League. Jeremy Doku, Savinho and Rayan Cherki stand for high-speed football on the wings. The Werkself should also keep an eye out for Phil Foden, who got a brace against Dortmund, and 107-time Portugal international Bernardo Silva. No wonder City currently have the joint-best attack in the Premier League alongside Arsenal with 24 goals. When Guardiola's brand of link-up football is allowed to flourish, his team are difficult to stop. City have played the most passes in the four games so far (2732), had the best pass completion stats (91.9%) and the highest average possession percentage (66.3%).