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This will be the second season in which Sevilla and Manchester City meet in major European competition; the only previous instance saw the Citizens win home and away in the 2015-16 Uefa Champions League group stage.
Sevilla have won just one of eight group stage games against English Premier League sides in the Champions League (D3 L4), beating Arsenal 3-1 in November 2007.
Manchester City have won just three of their 13 away games at Spanish opponents in major European competitions (D2 L8), although one of those was at Sevilla in November 2015 (3-1).
Sevilla have qualified for the Champions League for a third successive campaign; they are unbeaten on MD1 in each of their last six appearances in the competition (W2 D4), although each of their last four openers have been drawn, including twice against English sides (2-2 v Liverpool in 2017-18, 0-0 v Chelsea in 2020-21).
Manchester City are competing in the Champions League for a 12th season — all coming in a row since 2011-12. Only Real Madrid (26), Barcelona (19) and Bayern Munich (15) are on longer ongoing runs of consecutive appearances in the competition (including 2022-23). The Citizens have progressed from their group in each of their last nine seasons in the tournament.
Manchester City lost two of their three away games in last season’s Champions League group stage (W1); they had only lost one of their previous 13 away group games in the competition before this (W8 D4).
Sevilla have won just one of their last eight Champions League matches (D4 L3), and could suffer back-to-back defeats in the competition for the first time since November 2015, a run of four losses that included two against Man City.
This will be Man City manager Pep Guardiola’s first meeting with Sevilla since March 2012 in LaLiga as Barcelona boss, goals from Xavi and Lionel Messi securing him a 2-0 win.
Guardiola has won just one of his last seven Champions League away games against Spanish sides (D1 L5), a 2-1 win at Real Madrid with Man City in February 2020.
Ivan Rakitic has been directly involved in four of Sevilla’s last six Champions League goals (two goals, two assists). The Croatian last season became the club’s oldest ever scorer in the competition, at the age of 33 years and 203 days when he netted against Wolfsburg. Manchester City striker Erling Haaland has scored 23 goals in 19 Champions League appearances, the best goals/game ratio of any player in the competition’s history (1.2 – min. 10 apps). The Norwegian scored eight goals in six appearances for Salzburg and 15 in 13 for Borussia Dortmund, with four of his goals coming in two matches against Sevilla in 2020-21.
Meanwhile, Paris Saint-Germain will be hoping for a change in fortunes when they host Juventus in much-anticipated Uefa Champions League clash today. Paris Saint-Germain have never beaten Juventus in eight previous Champions League meetings (D2 L6), losing their last six in a row.
This is the most they’ve faced any side in all European competitions without ever winning, although they haven’t faced the Italian club since the 1996 Uefa Super Cup, losing 9-2 on aggregate over two legs.
Juventus have lost just one of their last 10 major European meetings with French sides (W7 D2), although that was their last such away game, going down 0-1 at Lyon in February 2020.
This will be Paris Saint-Germain’s 11th consecutive season in the Champions League; only Lyon have ever had a longer uninterrupted run of qualifications for the tournament among French clubs (12 from 2000-01 to 2011-12). PSG have progressed from their group in each of their last 10 campaigns, last falling at this stage in the competition in 2004-05.
Juventus have qualified for the Champions League for an 11th successive season; the Old Lady have progressed from their group in each of their last eight campaigns, last failing to do so in 2013-14. This is their 23rd Champions League season overall; in just one of the previous 22 have they lost their first match of that season (W13 D8), a 0-3 defeat at Barcelona in 2017-18. — SuperSport
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