Pep must unleash "inevitable" Man City ace as their answer to Mbappe

Manchester City have arguably their biggest game of the season on Wednesday night, as they face Real Madrid in the second leg of their Champions League knockout round clash. The Citizens will be looking to turn around a 3-2 deficit at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The first leg was a fantastic, end-to-end game of football. Pep Guardiola’s side had the lead twice, through who else but Erling Haaland, before Los Blancos did what they do best and came from behind to win. Goals from Kylian Mbappe, Brahim Diaz and Jude Bellingham late on were enough to seal the victory.

If City are to win in the Spanish capital, they will have to be careful of Mbappe, who has a good record against them.

Mbappe’s record against City

Few opposition players strike fear into a team or their fans like Mbappe does. He is one of the world’s best players, who French legend Thierry Henry said last week he would want in his team “all day” as a manager.

There is a misconception that Mbappe’s start to life for Los Blancos has been poor. In actual fact, he has 24 goals and three assists in 36 appearances for his new club. He has been on fire despite not hitting his usual numbers at the start of the campaign, which just shows his level if anything.

Against City, Mbappe has a strong record. The 2018 World Cup Winner has played against the Citizens six times in his career, scoring four goals and grabbing one assist in that time. He has scored twice against Guardiola’s side for Monaco, once for Paris Saint Germain and once for Madrid.

Mbappe is a player who can really harm City and could be a player who can swing the tie. He is certainly someone who they must stop on Wednesday night if they want to reach the Round of 16 of the Champions League.

However, Guardiola’s side can fight fire with fire by unleashing their own version of Mbappe.

Man City’s answer to Mbappe

Maybe instead of stopping Mbappe, it is easier to simply try and outscore him. City might well decide to do that this week if Guardiola starts one of his star attackers, who has been in scintillating form recently.

Omar Marmoush’s £59m move from Eintracht Frankfurt in January was arguably the biggest move across Europe. He has hit the ground running at the Etihad Stadium and was superb in his most recent outing against Newcastle United.

The Egypt international scored a first-half hattrick against the Magpies, to help his side to a 4-0 home win. They are the first goals he scored for his new side, in five appearances so far. One of those was a fleeting six-minute cameo against Los Blancos last week.

Football analyst Ben Mattinson described Marmoush as an “inevitable” footballer, something which Eddie Howe’s side certainly understood at the weekend. He was superb for Eintracht, too, with 37 goals and 20 assists in just 67 games for the club.

Interestingly, Marmoush is deemed to be a similar player to Mbappe, among those in his position across Europe’s top five leagues, as per FBref, over the last 365 days.

Per 90 minutes, the City number seven actually averages more goals and assists, with 1.46 compared to 0.9 for Mbappe, and has more goal-creating actions, with 1.13 compared to the Madrid striker’s 0.38.

Marmoush and Mbappe key stats compared
Stat (per 90)	Marmoush	Mbappe
G/A	1.46	0.9
Goals per shot on target	0.43	0.25
Chances created	2.05	1.46
Goal-creating actions	1.13	0.38
Progressive carries	4.27	4.72
Stats from FBref

It is certainly interesting that Marmoush and Mbappe are deemed to be such similar footballers. They are both clearly game changers, and it might serve Guardiola well to start the Egyptian forward this week – having been on the bench in the reverse fixture – as their reply to Mbappe in many ways.

There is no doubt that City’s marquee January signing could have a major say in the tie, and will be hoping to score a goal that could help his side into the Champions League Round of 16, if he gets the nod to start.