Manchester City look to be just 90 minutes away from the group stages of the Champions League after a comprehensive victory in the Romanian capital last week. Goals from David Silva, Nolito, and Sergio Aguero secured City’s best ever away result in Europe, and it could be have been more as Aguero conspired to miss two first-half penalties.
With the luxury of a five-goal advantage, boss Pep Guardiola may look to rotate the side and rest those who have played a significant part of a fine first week. Among those potentially in with a chance of appearing on Wednesday night is exiled goalkeeper Joe Hart. The England stopper looks all but certain to depart the club this month, but he may well be given one final run out in the City lineup.
As well as Hart, we may well see a couple of surprise selections if Guardiola wishes to experiment. Some of the youngsters involved in pre-season could be given a chance in a competitive game to prove themselves on the European stage, most likely from the bench.
Here, we try to second guess the intricacies of Guardiola’s mind and put together a team for the second leg against Steaua Bucharest.
