Manchester City vs Young Boys Match Stats Preview

Manchester City vs Young Boys Match Stats Preview

Manchester City have won two of their three UEFA Champions League games against Swiss teams, although both wins were away from home. At the Etihad, the Citizens suffered a 2-1 defeat to Basel in March 2018, when Basel were managed by current Young Boys manager Raphael Wicky.

In all European competition, Young Boys are winless in all five away matches in England (D2 L3), failing to beat four different teams in this run: Spurs (L1), Liverpool (D1), Everton (L1) and Man Utd (D1 L1).

Having won their opening three UEFA Champions League matches this season, Manchester City are looking to win their first four group games for a third time, also doing so in 2017-18 and 2020-21. They could become only the fourth holders of the trophy to win their first four games of the next season, along with Bayern Munich (2013-14 and 2020-21) and Real Madrid (2014-15).

Young Boys have never won away from home in the UEFA Champions League, drawing two and losing five of their seven away trips. They have avoided defeat in each of the last two, however, drawing 1-1 against Manchester United and 2-2 versus Crvena Zvezda.

Manchester City are unbeaten in their last 27 home games in the UEFA Champions League (W25 D2). Only one English team has ever had a longer run without a home defeat in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League, with Liverpool going 30 home games without a loss between 1976 and 2001 (W26 D4).

Young Boys – who hold the UEFA Champions League record for most games in the competition without a clean sheet (15) – have faced the second-most shots (67), the joint most shots on target (32) and have the second-highest expected goals against figure (9.6) of any side in the group stages this season.

Manchester City – who have the highest possession average in the UEFA Champions League this season (70.6%) – have completed 90.2% of their passes under pressure in the competition this term; the most of any side.

Man City’s Rodri has completed the most passes (302) and has progressed the ball the second furthest distance with ball carries (663m) in the UEFA Champions League this season. He has been involved in four goals in his last eight appearances in the competition (3 goals, 1 assist), after not scoring or assisting in his first 43 games in the competition.

Meschack Elia has scored three goals in nine UEFA Champions League appearances for Young Boys, scoring in three different games and ending on the losing side in all three games. He’s only the third player to end on the losing side in the first three games he’s scored in the competition, along with Artem Milevskiy (2006-09, Dynamo Kyiv) and Mbwana Samatta (2019, KRC Genk).

Erling Haaland has scored 24 goals in 20 UEFA Champions League appearances at the group stages (8 in 6 games for FC Red Bull Salzburg, 9 in 7 for Borussia Dortmund, 7 in 7 for Man City), a record by a player in his first 20 appearances in the groups; the previous most was 18 by Harry Kane.