One of the most notable fixtures in the opening round of the Champions League group stage will be at Ramon Sanchez Pixuan. Manchester City arrive at the first leg as heavy favourites. Bookmakers are predicting a 3.5 odds Major League Soccer team win this season, and they even offer a hefty 1.3 odds on whoever is the other side to win the title. Sevilla are ranked twentieth on the list of contenders, and you can bet on them at odds of 200. In the upcoming game, Pep Guardiola's club are clearly the favourites.

Sevilla lost important defensive players in the form of Kunde and Diego Carlos in the off-season, who left for Barcelona and Aston Villa, respectively, for a combined fee of 81 million euros. Ocampos and Luke de Jong also left the club. Lopetegui did not have time to form a new defensive line in time, and Rekic's injury exacerbated the situation. In this regard, defence is now the weakness of the hosts in the upcoming game, which is particularly worrying ahead of the encounter with the already established Manchester City side Holland and company. In the opening four rounds of the Primera Division, Sevilla have performed poorly, to say the least. Against the likes of Almería, Valladolid and Osasuna, Lopetegui's side have picked up a single point overall, while Barcelona suffered a dismal 0-3 defeat at home.

Manchester City, too, are not a sinless football machine at the start of the season. However, in the case of Guardiola's team, this is not reflected in total defeats, but in the draws against Aston Villa and Newcastle and four victories over the representatives of the Premier League. Where Manchester City certainly have no problems is in the attack. In the seven official games played this season, Holand has scored ten goals. Together with De Bruyne, Foden, Silva, Gundogan and others, the Norwegian has formed an attacking unit that can break down any defence in Europe.

Certainly, for the visitors, the hosts' problems in attack are manna from heaven. Manchester City's players are of such a class that they exploit even small gaps in the opponent's defence, and if those problems are evident, as in the case of Sevilla, the Spanish club is unlikely to avoid defeat.