Pep Guardiola will be absolutely determined that his Manchester City side put in a good performance, and get a win, away to Hoffenheim on Tuesday evening.
The Premier League champions didn’t have a good start to their European adventure this season, losing 2-1 at home to Lyon on September 19th.
That puts more pressure on this week’s match and perhaps gives some small hope to Hoffenheim, who currently find themselves 12th in the Bundesliga.
The German club drew their first Champions League match of the season, 2-2 away to Shakhtar Donetsk, and an unlikely win tonight would leave the group looking very different than many will have expected.
However, Hoffenheim will have to do it without their skipper, reports German newspaper Bild.
There’d been ‘great hope’ captain Kevin Vogt could return to the team’s central defence for the Manchester City match, but that’s not going to happen.
Manager Julian Nagelsmann is quoted as saying: “In the evening, the doctor has taken a lot of fluid out of the muscle. The pain situation does not allow it (playing against City).”
Bild explain Hoffenheim missing their ‘stabiliser’ is a big deal, and they struggled without him at the weekend against RB Leipzig.
