On Tuesday night, City head to CSKA Moscow in a game Joe Hart believes will be like “playing for Shrewsbury’s reserves” due to the closed doors policy keeping fans out. Manuel Pellegrini’s side desperately need a win on Russian soil having gone two games without a win in the Champions League, but it won’t be an easy task without fans backing them inside the ground in cold conditions.
Saying that, CSKA haven’t had the best start to a Champions League campaign of all time, having lost both game so far. On Matchday 1, they visited Roma and returned with their tails between their legs, having lost 5-1. Ahmed Musa scored the only CSKA goal on a disappointing night for the Russians in Italy. Two weeks later Bayern Munich visited Moscow in a match that was also played behind closed doors, and whilst the hosts put up a fight, they succumbed to a 22nd minute Müller penalty that left them bottom of their group.
A place ahead in third are City, who’ve also struggled so far with just one point from two games. In the first game we visited Bayern and could have returned with a point had Jerome Boateng not volleyed in a late equaliser to win all three points for the Bavarians. In the first home match, Roma made the pilgrimage to Manchester late in September and went behind early on thanks to an Agüero penalty. Legendary striker Francesco Totti scored an equaliser in the first half to earn a share of the points for the visitors.
It’s been less than a year since City and CSKA last met; the pair were also in the same group in last year’s edition of the Champions League, with The Blues emerging victorious on both occasions. In the away game that came more or less exactly a year ago, City went behind thanks to a goal from ex-Manchester United player Zoran Tošić, before a double from Agüero before half-time won the points for the English side.
Much like this year, the fourth game of City’s European campaign last year was to host the Russian side as they came to the Etihad. On that night the strike partnership of Agüero and Negredo shone, with the Argentinian netting twice whilst the Spaniard bagged a hattrick. Seydou Doumbia got the goals for the Russian side on a night when the scoreline didn’t really reflect the game.
Manchester City are without some important players for the visit to Russia. Frank Lampard picked up a thigh injury in Saturday’s 4-1 win over Tottenham meaning he misses the game, whilst Samir Nasri (groin) is still out, but could make it back in time for the derby in just under two weeks. On the bright side, Eliaquim Mangala should be back fit in time for the visit to CSKA having missed the visit of Spurs with a groin injury he picked up on international duty with France.
Despite the match being played “behind closed doors”, some City fans who had already booked their flights for the game have reportedly rented out a flat in the building that overlooks the Khimki Arena in order to watch the game. That’s what Bayern Munich fans did on their trip to Russia last month, with their game being played behind closed doors too.
City’s players will be even more determined for a win after comments from Ahmed Musa on Monday mocked the City defence; he described the defence as “very weak” and believes it is something the Russian side can exploit when their opponents make the trip to Moscow on Tuesday.
One thing is for sure – a win is vital. Anything other than a win all but rules out any chance City still had of qualifying for the knockout stages as that would leave City having not won any of their first three group games. After last season, a lot of fans will go into the game quietly confident, but will be aware that CSKA can and will cause a shock if given the chance.
