Sporting CP vs Manchester City

Manchester City have lost three consecutive matches in all competitions for the first time since doing so between May and August 2021, while in the same season it’s the first time since April 2018.

Viktor Gyökeres is the first Sporting CP player to score a European Cup hat trick since António Oliveira vs Dinamo Zagreb in 1982, while he is the first to score a hat-trick against Man City in the UEFA Champions League since Christopher Nkunku in September 2021 for RB Leipzig.

Tonight was Pep Guardiola’s 175th match in the UEFA Champions League as manager and only the third time he has seen the team he’s managing concede four goals, along with a 4-0 defeat against Real Madrid with Bayern Munich in April 2014 and 4-0 defeat to Barcelona with Man City in October 2016.

Sporting CP won their first European meeting with Man City in March 2012 in the UEFA Europa League, but are winless in their last three against them (D1 L2).

Manchester City have lost just one of their 10 major European matches against Portuguese opposition (W6 D3), although it was against Sporting in March 2012. In those 10 games, City have kept six clean sheets, including one in each of their last three.

Manchester City have only lost one of their previous five away trips to face Portuguese opponents in European competition (W2 D2), and are unbeaten there in UEFA Champions League matches: 0-0 v FC Porto in December 2020 and 5-0 v Sporting CP in February 2022.

After losing each of their first five matches against English sides in the UEFA Champions League, Sporting CP have gone unbeaten in each of the last three (W1 D2). Indeed, they won their last home match in the competition against an English opponent, beating Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 in September 2022.

Sporting CP are unbeaten in the UEFA Champions League this season, winning twice and drawing one. If they can avoid defeat here, they will equal their longest ever unbeaten run in the European Cup/Champions League (four games between September 1982-March 1983).