Man City vs. Sparta Prague lineups, confirmed starting 11, team news and injuries: De Bruyne and Walker out

Dom Farrell

Man City vs. Sparta Prague lineups, confirmed starting 11, team news and injuries: De Bruyne and Walker out image

Manchester City host Sparta Prague in the Uefa Champions League with both teams on four points after their first two matches.

Despite being seeded as a Pot 4 team, Sparta have impressed on their first venture into the competition proper for 19 years. Lars Friis' side stunned RB Salzburg with a 3-0 win in their opening match before coming from a goal down to secure a superb 1-1 draw away to Bundesliga side Stuttgart.

City swatted aside Slovan Bratislava 4-0 last time out after sharing a goalless draw with 2023 final opponents Inter Milan on the opening matchweek — a result seemingly still weighing on Pep Guardiola's mind.

"I'm pretty sure there will be top, top teams that have to play extra games to qualify," the City manager said of the new competition format, where only the top eight from the 36-team league will reach the last 16 automatically.

MORE: All the latest Man City news | Premier League schedule for 2024/25 | Latest Premier League top scorer rankings

"I'm pretty sure if we don't close [win] our games at home after our draw with Inter Milan – we have three incredible games away in Lisbon against Sporting, Juventus in Turin and PSG – I would say it will not be easy.

"The games we have at home we have to close otherwise it will be so difficult to finish in the first eight and that is the target we want to achieve."

WATCH: Uefa Champions League with a FREE trial of Paramount+ in USA | A new era of UEFA Champions League in Australia, only on Stan Sport

Manchester City vs. Sparta Prague lineups, confirmed starting 11, team news

Kevin De Bruyne remains sidelined with the thigh injury he sustained against Inter, while this game also comes too soon for Kyle WalkerRodri (ACL) and Oscar Bobb (broken leg) are long-term absentees.

Nathan Ake was back on the bench for the dramatic 2-1 weekend win over Wolves following a hamstring problem and comes in to give the in-form Josko Gvardiol a rest.

Jack GrealishPhil Foden and Matheus Nunes all impressed from the bench at Molineux and could start, although Grealish and Jeremy Doku each sat out open training on Tuesday and have not made it in time. James McAtee will be hopeful of more action after scoring his maiden Champions League goal in Bratislava.

Stefan Ortega gets an outing in goal as Ederson drops to a bench featuring just five outfield players.

Man City (4-3-3, right to left): Ortega (GK) — Lewis, Akanji, Stones, Ake — Nunes, Kovacic, Silva — Foden, Haaland, Savinho

Man City substitutes: Ederson (GK), Carson (GK), Dias, Kovacic, Gvardiol, O'Reilly, McAtee

MORE: All the latest Champions League news | How does the 2024/25 Champions League work? | Full UCL match schedule

For the Czech side, Imanol Garcia is sidelined with a knee injury, while Elias Cobbaut (illness) has yet to make his season debut for the Maroons and is doubtful to feature on Wednesday.

Martin Vitik missed the last domestic match due to suspension, but he returns to the back three alongside Asger Sorensen and Filip Panak.

Kaan Kairinen is a key player in midfield, controlling the game and setting the tempo with precise passing. The Finland international has also scored in both of Sparta's Champions League games so far this season.

Sparta Prague (3-4-3, right to left): Vindahl (GK)  — Vitik, Panak, Sorensen — Preciado, Laci, Kairinen, Rynes — Birmancevic, Olatunji, Haraslin.

Sparta Prague substitutes: Vorel (GK), Surovcik, Suchomel, Solbakken, Ross, Pavelka, Rrahmani, Danek, Sadilek, Pesek, Wiesner, Krasniqi

Manchester City vs. Sparta Prague live stream, TV channel

Here's how to watch this Champions League match across selected areas of the world's major regions:

RegionTVStreaming
USAParamount+, ViX
CanadaDAZN
UKTNT Sports 2discovery+
AustraliaStan Sport
IndiaSony Ten 1Sony LIV, JioTV

If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. Learn more >

Dom Farrell

Dom Farrell Photo

Dom is the senior content producer for Sporting News UK. He previously worked as fan brands editor for Manchester City at Reach Plc. Prior to that, he built more than a decade of experience in the sports journalism industry, primarily for the Stats Perform and Press Association news agencies. Dom has covered major football events on location, including the entirety of Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup in Paris and St Petersburg respectively, along with numerous high-profile Premier League, Champions League and England international matches. Cricket and boxing are his other major sporting passions and he has covered the likes of Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, Wladimir Klitschko, Gennadiy Golovkin and Vasyl Lomachenko live from ringside.