5. Martin Demichelis vs Seydou Doumbia
City's Chilean coach Manuel Pellegrini has hopefully realized by now that paying Javi Garcia in defence invariably leads to disaster. As injuries have kept Kompany sidelined he has had to use seven yes, count them, seven different centre back pairings this season. The moral of the story is do not use square pegs in round holes. Demichelis is coming up to full match fitness and it makes sense to hand him, the natural option, a European debut for City here. The Argentine has played under Pellegrini before and because of that we expect him to get the nod. Ivory Coast striker Doumbia has been prolific for CSKA since moving from the Young Boys club in Berne, Switzerland. He has
six in ten games this term, but is yet to score in Europe. Doumbia is of average height, but offered more than the diminutive Ahmed Musa when he came on during the meeting in Moscow. Matija Nastasic the other City centre back favoured by Pellegrini has the legs to keep pace with Doumbia. Demichelis may not at 32 years of age, however. This means he will have to read the game well in front of him.