Manchester City vs AEK Athens: can City bounce back from PSG defeat?

Manchester City host AEK Athens at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday, looking to return to winning ways in the Champions League after last week’s defeat to Paris Saint-Germain.

The fixture presents an opportunity for Enzo Maresca’s side to respond on home soil, although their preparations have been complicated by fresh injury concerns following the weekend’s Premier League action.

Maresca will be eager to see his players rediscover their best European form after suffering a painful defeat against the reigning Champions League holders.

The City boss said: “Probably be out for eight weeks”, when discussing Antoine Semenyo’s injury, although he admitted that the initial prognosis had been more concerning.

Manchester City have enjoyed an impressive start to the campaign, winning the majority of their matches across domestic and European competitions before PSG brought their run to an end at the Etihad.

The hosts found themselves trailing 3-0 inside 32 minutes against Luis Enrique’s side, leaving themselves with a mountain to climb despite a spirited second-half response. City managed two goals but ultimately suffered a 4-2 defeat, leaving Maresca with plenty to consider ahead of their next European assignment. They returned to winning ways at the weekend, however, beating Ipswich Town 3-2 in an entertaining encounter, with Erling Haaland scoring twice and Phil Foden also finding the net.

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City will be without Antoine Semenyo for a significant period after Maresca confirmed that the forward is expected to miss around eight weeks.

Haaland is also a doubt after experiencing fitness concerns following the Ipswich match, although the City manager suggested that the Norwegian striker had responded positively during recovery. Maresca said: “He can be available but we'll see. We have a session. We had some doubts after the game but he was quite good yesterday [Sunday]. We'll see today.” Matheus Nunes, Mateo Kovacic and Nico O’Reilly were all substituted against Ipswich, but Maresca indicated that the trio were “more or less ok”, leaving them in contention for Tuesday’s fixture. AEK Athens, meanwhile, arrive at the Etihad seeking greater consistency after an uneven start to their Champions League campaign. The Greek side opened their European campaign with a 1-0 victory over LASK, courtesy of a superb free-kick from Razvan Marin, before suffering a 3-1 defeat against Shakhtar Donetsk at Stamford Bridge. Domestically, AEK sit fourth in the Greek Super League behind PAOK, Olympiacos and Panathinaikos, although their game in hand offers an opportunity to climb the table. The visitors possess some familiar names, including former Real Madrid striker Luka Jovic and Portuguese midfielder Joao Mario, who previously spent time in the Premier League with West Ham United.

Predicted line-ups:

Manchester City: Donnarumma; Khusanov, Dias, Guehi, Gvardiol; Bouaddi, Anderson; Cherki, Fernandez, Ndiaye; Foden.

AEK Athens: Brignoli; Rota, Moukoudi, Relvas, Pilo; Majer, Kairinen, Marin, Vitalis; Varga, Jovic.