Preview: Manchester City braced for 'fiery greeting' from Liverpool fans ahead of huge clash
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Updated 04/04/2018 at 10:34 GMT
Plans by Liverpool fans to give Manchester City's team coach a fiery welcome to Wednesday's Champions League quarter-final have been shrugged off by midfielder Kevin De Bruyne and manager Pep Guardiola.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola during the press conference
Image credit: Reuters
Fiery greeting
The big off-the-pitch talking point ahead of the all-English Champions League match is what the Liverpool fans are planning to do to ensure that City's players and staff have a crazy arrival at Anfield.
A Liverpool fan group has circulated on social media a call for fans to line the streets around Anfield: "Bring your flares and flags. Banners and bangers. Pints and pyros", read the message which urged supporters to show City "exactly what money can't buy".
A similar "coach greeting" was created by Liverpool fans before the all-English semi-final with Chelsea in the Champions League in 2005, won by the Merseyside club.
De Bruyne 'loves the passion'
Asked what he felt about the prospect of such a welcome, City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne said: "I expect nothing less. I like to play at big stadiums and big crowds - it’s what it’s all about.
"I love the passion. There is a lot of passion in football and if you see the passion in the crowd you have to try to manage it," added the Belgian.
Guardiola urges 'polite' behaviour
City manager Pep Guardiola said he hoped the Liverpool fans would keep their welcome within limits.
"The people suggest what is going to happen, but we haven't lived it yet," said the former Barcelona coach.
"We are here and we have come to play a game, I hope everyone can be correct and polite and (it is) just a game, a sport, people cannot forget that.
"(In Spain) they had the police to spread out the people. The fans cannot be too much in front of you. Here the streets are narrow. We will see. Hopefully it's going to go well and Liverpool fans can show their history speaks for itself."
Klopp delight with fans
Jurgen Klopp is delighted by the passion that his fans are poised to show at Anfield - as long as it stays within bounds.
"It's wonderful, it's great, it shows everything, it shows the passion. As long as it happens in a legal way, I'm completely fine with it," he said.
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Jurgen Klopp
Image credit: Getty Images
Team news
Liverpool have issues in their back line with Joe Gomez, Joel Matip and Ragnar Klavan all sidelined.
Indeed, Klopp's only available senior centre-backs are Dejan Lovren and Virgil van Dijk.
Adam Lallana is out with the hamstring strain he suffered at Crystal Palace on Saturday, while Emre Can is not expected to return from his back injury.
City striker Sergio Aguero has been ruled out with a knee injury having missed the past five games for club and country.
"Sergio is much better but doctors spoke to him today and he said he still has a little bit of a problem and isn't comfortable," Guardiola said.
Defender John Stones should be available again after suffering a head injury and left-back Fabian Delph is poised to return.
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Pep Guardiola and Sergio Agüero
Image credit: Getty Images
Match facts
- This will be the 10th Champions League knockout tie between English clubs in the Champions League, six of these have involved Liverpool (including this tie).
- Liverpool and Manchester City will meet for the 179th time in all competitions, but this will be their first-ever meeting in European competition.
- Jurgen Klopp has won five matches against Pep Guardiola in all competitions; more than any other manager (excluding shootouts). With two of these victories coming as Liverpool manager (in four attempts).
- Including qualifiers, this will be Liverpool’s 11th Champions League match this season – they are unbeaten in each of their previous 10 (W6 D4 L0) and kept a clean sheet in half of these (5).
- Liverpool haven’t lost a home match in European competition since October 2014 (0-3 vs Real Madrid) and are now unbeaten in 14 European games at Anfield (W9 D5 L0).
- Manchester City will be appearing in a Champions League quarter-final tie for only the second time – the first occasion was in 2015-16 when they progressed over two legs versus Paris Saint Germain, 3-2 on aggregate.
- Liverpool are the top scoring team in the Champions League this season following the quarter-final stage (28 goals). The record tally of goals by an English team in a single Champions League campaign is 32 by Manchester United in 2002-03, while Liverpool’s club record is 29 goals in 2007-08.
- Of the eight remaining sides in the Champions League 2017-18, Liverpool (25y 311d) and Manchester City (26y 134d) have had the youngest average starting XI’s in the competition this season.
- The two meetings between Liverpool and Manchester City so far this season have produced 12 goals in total, with 26% of the shots attempted scored (12/47).
- Leroy Sane has scored three goals in his two appearances against Liverpool so far in 2017-18.
- Sergio Aguero has scored in all four of his Champions League away appearances so far this season for Manchester City (four goals) – no player has scored in five away appearances in a single CL season for an English club.
- Roberto Firmino has been involved in 10 goals (seven goals, three assists) in the Champions League this season – only Cristiano Ronaldo has been involved in more goals (14).
- Mohamed Salah has had a hand in seven goals (six goals, one assist) in eight Champions League appearances so far this season. Before 2017-18, he’d scored three goals and assisted none in 15 appearances in the Champions League (for Roma, Chelsea and Basel combined).
Additional reporting by Reuters, stats provided by Opta
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