Even if City win tomorrow, the German champions will qualify top of the group regardless of how many goals Madrid may put past Ajax thanks to the head-to-head record between the two - Dortmund won at home a couple of weeks before taking a point away from the Bernabeu. Given their current position in the Bundesliga, coach Jurgen Klopp may be tempted to select a significantly weaker said than has been the norm in Europe thus far.
As I've already said in my piece on the Europa League, I'd actually quite like to compete in it for a number of reasons, not least because it's another piece of potential silverware. However, Mancini faces a dilemma regarding team selection. I think he himself would like the chance of winning the formerly named UEFA Cup, but City face Manchester United on Saturday in what is certain to be a game of huge significance. United themselves are home and dry in their quest for qualification for European football after Christmas, so Ferguson has the option to test his fringe players when they host Cluj on Wednesday night.
Yaya Toure is suspended so won't feature, perhaps fortunately for him as he is in great need of a rest for me, a week off might just leave him refreshed for Sunday. Additionally, Clichy faces a fight to prove his fitness for the derby so is extremely unlikely to feature, as is Aleks Kolarov who limped out of Sunday's draw at home to Everton after just a few minutes. Furthermore, David Silva hasn't even travelled due to a hamstring injury, and is a doubt for the game against United, there are a lot of blues out there with there fingers corssed right now. But Jack Rodwell has returned to training so may play some part should Mancini wish to give Gareth Barry a rest as well, although he could feature alongside Barry and Garcia in a three man midfield. There are some news outlets reporting that Milner is fit for selection, I approach the verity of that news with some trepidation, as just just five days ago, Mancini said he expected him to be out for ten days.
Here's how City could line up:
Mancini could go for three in the middle as we've been outnumbered in that department a few times so far this season, he may even opt for a diamond-like midfield. He forfeits pace on the counter-attack however, if he does select something similar to that above, so will have to chose both Aguero and Balotelli, in my opinion, as they are firstly, our quickest strikers and secondly, I believe that it may well be his preferred strike partnership, and he'd like to play them both on Sunday. Neither are unfit but this is a chance for them to find a bit of form prior to the derby.
Dortmund haven't endured so much success in the league so far this term, but have proved that they are more than a match for Europe's elite, so it will be more than tough, regardless of the eleven Klopp selects, the hostile atmosphere will see to that. City will need their forwards to provide a spark that has largely been missing this season, and there might now be a more important time to find it than this week.
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