Evening all, and welcome to Manchester City v Shakhtar Donetsk!

Fernandinho, who is great at committing fouls and avoiding cards, thuds through junior Moraes. He escapes a booking.

Aguero is in a box, wearing hat, polo neck and blazer. We see you.

Bernardo slides a pass in behind Ismaily for De Bruyne, and his cross is deflected behind. The corner comes to nothing.

De Bruyne progresses down the right, but looks to lay back and passes to Kovelenko.

There are a lot of empty seats at the Etihad, which is understandable: football is expensive and it's an expensive time of year. What is not understandable is that surplus tickets aren't handed out to local kids.

Off we go!

Elsewhere and already tonight, Brugge scored late to salvage a draw away to Galatasaray; both are out, with PSG and Real Madrid set to progress for that group. And Leverkusen have beaten Lokomotiv, but the likelihood is that Atletico and Juventus will progress.

Here come the teams!

After 15 games in the Ukrainian Premier League, Shakhtar sit in top spot with 14 wins and one draw; they lead second-placed Dynamo Kyiv by a mere 13 points. Which is to say that, at the very least, they are a grooved and confident outfit.

Guardiola tells BT that he has picked a team to try to win the game; enlightening, Josep. He knows Shakhtar quite well and says that they put a lot of players in the middle of the pitch to play short passes and are very quick. His players, he says, need to remember that they haven't yet qualified.

In the studio, Joleon Lescott is extolling De Bruyne but says he'd prefer to have Yaya Toure. I'm not sure - De Bruyne has a higher bottom level and contributes more to controlling a game, whereas Toure was all about making sure his team won it.

BT are showing an interview with Gabriel Jesus, who is a good player but about as bad a player as you'd expect to see at City in his position, which is to say that he comfortably less good than their other attackers. Guardiola's plan was clearly that he replace Sergio Aguero and he tried to make it happen, but three years later Ageuro is still first choice. In fairness, Aguero is extremely useful at association football.

I'd hoped that Guardiola would give Foden a go tonight. I'm sure he'll play the final match in Zagreb if City are through, but he'll only really get better now by playing in meaningful matches.

It's been a while since Pep Guardiola picked his first-choice team, even if we discount Laporte and Sane, who are injured. I wonder if Guardiola is even certain about what that team is - I'd go with Bernardo and De Bruyne in midfield with Sterling and Sane wide, but I'm not sure the manager would.

Worthy of reporting.

In the end, the question for City is whether they're good enough to go all the way - especially as the league title already looks out of reach. And the answer, for the third consecutive season, is that at their best they are the best, but producing that, with their defence, against a quality attack, is unlikely. If the draw is kind, they have a great chance, but your correspondent would not back them to beat three quality teams in a row.

Particularly impressive in that Chelsea game were Fernandinho, who is beginning to look like a centre-back - like more of a centre-back than Otamendi or Stones, let's be real - and De Bruyne. He is the best player in the Premier league, by far, and look, finally, as though he is fit again.

City make various changes from the weekend's comeback win over Chelsea: at the back, Otamendi and Angelino comes in for Mendy and Stones; in midfield, Gundogan comes in for David Silva; and in attack, Bernardo Silva and Jesus come in for Mahrez and the injured Aguero.