Burton welcome the visitors Manchester City in the English Football League Cup – Semi-finals. The match will be held on Wednesday, January 23rd, at the Pirelli Stadium (Burton upon Trent).
There is no point in commenting on the class difference between the clubs whose head-to-head ended in 9:0. Manchester City have smashed the third division underdogs, leaving no questions open as far as their progression to the EFL Cup final is concerned. The second leg is just a formality; the idealist Guardiola, however, never gives rest to his men and allows them to play half-heartedly. This is the manager’s philosophy – any match and any opponent should be taken seriously. This refers even to a sparring.
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Let’s consider Barcelona’s cup adventures under Guardiola. In the season 2009/10, at the early stage, Barcelona faced the frugal Leones. Proving their advantage in the first head-to-head (2:0), Guardiola’s side had every right to fool around in the second leg, but they won it, 5:0. In the next season, the team featured a similar situation – they smashed Сeuta 5:1 after the 2:0 win in the first match. In the semi-final later, Barcelona have defeated Almeria twice (5:0 and 3:0). Then Hospitalet suffered in the following season, registering a 9:0 loss in the reverse leg. Burton will not play back anyhow, which does not mean for Guardiola that his players may walk in the second encounter. This is not professional, and it discourages the team. Pep’s position is that the footballers have to play their best everywhere and at all times, as they are paid good money for this. Obviously, the main squad will take rest tomorrow, but the City’s reserve players – Nicolas Otamendi, Riyad Mahrez, Bernardo Silva, Danilo Luiz, Ilkay Gundogan, as well as the young and always motivated Oleksander Zinchenko, Philip Foden, Gabriel Fernando de Jesus, and Aleix Garcia – will be there. Their skills were enough to beat Burton at home. They will also do to do that in the coming outing.
The home turf does not help Burton much – they allowed in 12 of 15 last official encounters in front of their own fans. Moreover, the hammering at the hands of Manchester City has devastated the hosts, as they missed 5 goals more in the next clashes against Gillingham (2:3) and Doncaster Rovers (2:2). Netted once or twice by the champions, the hosts may flip up and fail apart again. Under this scenario, the ‘Citizens’ will ship a goal after a goal, as if on a training. The visitors were victorious in 6 successive rounds with a total scoreline of 27:0, so the middle-class team from the third division is not the side that can calm them down. The 0:9 failure is the most сrushing Burton’s defeat in their recent history, however, they were netted 0:5 by Liverpool and 1:4 by Manchester United not so long ago. The hammering trend seems to persist. The hosts’ defense is leaking, and the ‘Citizens’ can score by any squad. Our prediction is that Guardiola’s side will conduct another master class, improving their outstanding scoring record tomorrow.
Prediction for the match: Manchester City to win with a -2.0 handicap.
