Steaua Bucharest vs Manchester City: Preview and Prediction

Steaua Bucharest vs Manchester City:
2016/ 17 Champions League Play-Off,
Date: Tuesday, 16 August, 2016.
Kick-Off: 19:45 UK,
Venue: National Arena (Bucharest ).

Manchester City look to sneak through into Champions League after missing out on automatic qualification due to a disappointing fourth placed finish in last season’s English Premier League.

The Citizens started their life with Pep Guardiola with a 2-1 win against Sunderland in the opening day of English Premier League. They win might not have been that convincing, but is a certain confidence booster after experiencing a difficult pre-season where they failed to win a single match inside the regulated ninety minutes.

City’s host for Tuesday, Steaua Bucharest are in some fine form at the moment. They have already played six competitive matches and remain unbeaten with 5 wins and a draw. They defeated a very strong Sparta Prague in the previous round on a 3-1 aggregate and their confidence will be very high. Also considering the fact that they are huge underdogs and will be playing with less pressure make them a difficult opponent for Manchester City to deal with.

Steaua Bucharest vs Manchester City: Head-to-Head

Steaua Bucharest and Manchester City are meeting for the first time in a UEFA Competitions.

But Steaua have played 18 times against English sides and their record is 5 wins, 4 draws and 9 defeats. All of the 5 wins came at their home ground from a total of 9 matches, while they lost and draws 2 each.

Manchester City’s only Romanian opposition in a UEFA competition was FC Timisoara for the Europa League play-offs of 2010/11 season. City were winners on both legs, 1-0 in Romania and 2-0 back in Manchester.

Steaua Bucharest vs Manchester City: Head-to-Head

Manchester City looked unconvincing during the pre-season campaign and are to yet to fully gel as a team under Pep Guardiola. Also they had a poor away record in last year’s Champions League. Combining this with Steaua’s recent form at home, the Romanians might come out with something from this game.

This is expected to be a very tricky affair as Steaua will be vary of the quality of the opposition and Manchester United playing to bring the decider back to their home turf. So goals will be at premium and you can back under 2.5 goals for this game.

Steaua Bucharest vs Manchester City: Tips

Handicap: Steaua +1
Under 2.5 goals.