We predict Manchester City will beat Club Brugge 3-0 to stay in the competition.
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Manchester City have lost three of their last four Champions League games. Admittedly, the fixture list was not kind to Guardiola’s men, losing tricky trips to Sporting, Juventus and PSG. Meanwhile, Club Brugge have got stronger as the league phase has elapsed, and they currently have a chance to make it to the knockout playoffs.
City fell back into old habits during their recent loss to PSG. Having moved into a two-goal lead at the Parc des Princes, City somehow lost 4-2 against Les Parisiens.
Domestically speaking, City are back in full flow, having scored nine in their last two Premier League games – including three against Chelsea. With their backs against the wall, City are feeling confident and prepared to shine against Club Brugge.
Club Brugge have also been in imperious domestic form in 2024/25, winning 10 of their last 13 games and remaining unbeaten since 22nd September. Although a much-changed team was held to a 1-1 home draw by second-bottom Kortrijk on Saturday.
Their Champions League campaign started with two defeats in their first three games, but a surprising home win over Aston Villa set the tone for the rest of their schedule. A hard-fought home win over Sporting and a goalless home draw with Juventus mean Brugge hold the advantage over City going into Thursday.
The probable lineup for Manchester City in 4-3-3:
Ederson; Nunes, Gvardiol, Akanji, Dias, Kovacic, Silva, Gundogan, Foden, Marmoush, Haaland
The probable lineup for Club Brugge in 4-2-3-1:
Mignolet; Sabbe, De Cuyper, Ordonez, Mechele, Onyedika, Jashari, Talbi, Tzolis, Vanaken, Jutgla
It’s been a very indifferent league phase in the Champions League for Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City. With only eight points from seven games, City are two points shy of the knockout phase playoff spots. They know that only a win against Club Brugge will secure their place in the playoffs as an unseeded team.
City are bidding to take the place of Club Brugge, who currently sit in the qualification places as an unseeded team for the knockout playoffs. However, if City can beat them, they would overtake the Belgians based on goal difference, potentially dumping Brugge out of the competition.
Following City’s impressive 3-1 victory over Chelsea at home, they climbed back into the Premier League’s top four. They’ve won their only two previous meetings with Club Brugge and, with Haaland back amongst the goals of late, there’s an inevitability about Thursday night’s scoreline in our Manchester City vs Club Brugge predictions.
Manchester City have conceded just one first half goal in their seven Champions League league phase games so far this season. In addition, Club Brugge have also conceded just two in seven.
Additionally, the Belgians have gone on to concede three times as many goals (six) in the second 45 minutes. City are even more likely to concede in the second half, with 12 of their 13 goals conceded coming after the interval.
With the visitors knowing that City will be gunning for them, Club Brugge are sure to try and contain the hosts in the opening exchanges. That’s why we envisage the first half featuring no more than one goal, with most of the action happening in the latter half.
City average 3.40 goals scored per home game in the Champions League this season. With that in mind, we like the idea of hedging the risk of Brugge scoring at the Etihad by backing the hosts to win 2-1, 3-1 or 4-1 too.
Such is our confidence that City will win, we’re effectively betting on them to win twice, but covering different scorelines gives us a greater margin for error.
It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that the visitors get on the scoresheet. After all, City only have a +2 goal difference after seven games. However, Brugge only average 0.86 goals per game so, in the unlikely event they do score, we can’t see them getting more than one.