On matchday six coming Wednesday night, Manchester City will travel to Belgrade to play Crvena zvezda, capping up their Champions League group stage campaign.

With only Crvena Zvezda standing in their way of spoiling the perfect record, City’s attempt to hold onto the UEFA Champions League trophy they lifted in Istanbul back in June has gone off without a hitch.

Manchester City may have their sights set on an undefeated group stage campaign, but their attention are likely to be elsewhere, since the FIFA Club World Cup is quickly coming and first place in the group is already guaranteed.

The Treble winners of last season have had a difficult few weeks, but their victory over Luton Town on Sunday afternoon helped to turn things around, as they are now fourth in the Premier League standings.

Red Star Belgrade, which is destined to finish bottom of Group G after only picking up one point from a home loss to BSC Young Boys earlier in the campaign, will be fighting for pride on Wednesday night.

Erling Haaland will not play in Belgrade this week, according to Pep Guardiola and Manchester City. The Norwegian missed the game on Sunday because of a recurrent foot injury he suffered when playing for his country last month.

In addition, Ederson won’t be available on Wednesday night after missing practice on Tuesday owing to illness. As a precaution, the Brazilian stopper did not travel with the team.

This is the team we believe will play Crvena Zvezda to finish the group stage campaign, despite the fact that the game is not very important. As a result, certain players may get some valuable minutes.

On matchday six coming Wednesday night, Manchester City will travel to Belgrade to play Crvena Zvezda, capping up their Champions League group stage campaign.

With only Crvena Zvezda standing in their way of spoiling the perfect record, City’s attempt to hold onto the UEFA Champions League trophy they lifted in Istanbul back in June has gone off without a hitch.

Manchester City may have their sights set on an undefeated group stage campaign, but their attention are likely to be elsewhere, since the FIFA Club World Cup is quickly coming and first place in the group is already guaranteed.

The Treble winners of last season have had a difficult few weeks, but their victory over Luton Town on Sunday afternoon helped to turn things around, as they are now fourth in the Premier League standings.

Red Star Belgrade, which is destined to finish bottom of Group G after only picking up one point from a home loss to BSC Young Boys earlier in the campaign, will be fighting for pride on Wednesday night.

Erling Haaland will not play in Belgrade this week, according to Pep Guardiola and Manchester City. The Norwegian missed the game on Sunday because of a recurrent foot injury he suffered when playing for his country last month.

In addition, Ederson won’t be available on Wednesday night after missing practice on Tuesday owing to illness. As a precaution, the Brazilian stopper did not travel with the team.

This is the team we believe will play Crvena Zvezda to finish the group stage campaign, despite the fact that the game is not very important. As a result, certain players may get some valuable minutes.

Estimated XI

In Ederson’s absence, Stefan Ortega Moreno will start the match and get valuable experience at the highest level of European football before the FA Cup campaign, in which he is also expected to play, begins.

In order to give Kyle Walker the much-needed break, we anticipate that Rico Lewis will start this game at right back. However, the England international may very well end up in defensive midfield.

As he recovers to full match fitness, Wednesday night’s game presents a critical chance for John Stones to earn additional playing time. The Englishman is predicted to start in center defense with Manuel Akanji.

On Sunday afternoon, Josko Gvardiol began the match at Kenilworth Road, and we anticipate that the Croatian international will continue to occupy that position in Pep Guardiola’s defensive line, completing the Manchester City rearguard.

Kalvin Phillips has had a difficult time in Manchester, to put it mildly, but we anticipate that the out-of-favor midfielder will start this match, even though it may be his final one with the team given the rumors of a January transfer.

We expect Matheus Nunes, a Portuguese player who started against Luton last weekend, to start from the start, joining fellow summer addition Mateo Kovacic in front of Kalvin Phillips. Nunes came off the bench to play during the final exchanges.

Oscar Bobb, the rising star of the school who is currently a senior international for Norway, has another fantastic opportunity to show off his skills on Wednesday night. We predict that the 20-year-old will get off to a right start in front of a front three.

We think Phil Foden, who will likely play mostly as a false nine against Crvena zvezda on Wednesday, could be the focal point of the attacking trio after early team news surfaced on social media.

Since joining Manchester City from RSC Anderlecht in the summer of 2022, it is reasonable to say that Sergio Gomez has not yet found his position in the team. Nevertheless, we believe the Spaniard begins this match to round out the starting XI.

Predicted XI: Lewis, Stones, Akanji, Gvardiol; Phillips, Nunes, Kovacic; Bobb, Foden, and Gomez are the predicted starting lineup.

Substitutes: Dias, Ake, Rodri, Susoho, Bernardo, Hamilton, Alvarez, Grealish, Carson, Grant, Walker, Alleyne, and Dias.