Manchester City vs Sparta Praha facts

Manchester City and Sparta Praha both put their unbeaten UEFA Champions League starts on the line when they meet at the City of Manchester Stadium on Matchday 3.

The teams are level on four points, City following a 0-0 home draw against Inter Milan – a repeat of the 2023 final – with a 4-0 victory in Slovakia against Slovan Bratislava. Sparta were 3-0 winners at home to Salzburg before a 1-1 draw at Stuttgart.

This is the teams' first meeting, and only City's third game against a Czech club.

Form guide

Manchester City

Record vs Czech clubs: W2 D0 L0 F7 A2
Home record vs Czech clubs: W1 D0 L0

City's sole previous games against a Czech club came in the 2013/14 Champions League group stage, when they beat Viktoria Plzeň 3-0 away and 4-2 at home, Sergio Agüero and Edin Džeko both scoring in each game.

This is City's 14th successive season in the Champions League proper; they have featured in every campaign since 2011/12 and have reached the knockout stages in each of the last 11.

Having claimed the club's first Champions League title in 2022/23, Pep Guardiola's side won all six group games for the first time last season. That was the seventh successive season in which City had come first in their group.

City brushed past Copenhagen in the round of 16 (3-1 a, 3-1 h) but lost an epic quarter-final against eventual champions Real Madrid (3-3 a, 1-1 h, 3-4 pens) – the third season in a row in which they had faced the Spanish side.

The Cityzens are unbeaten in 32 home European matches (W28 D4) since a 1-2 loss to Lyon on Matchday 1 in 2018/19, winning 22 of the last 25. That 32-match run is an English club record in the Champions League, overtaking Arsenal's 24-game unbeaten home sequence from September 2004 to April 2009.

Guardiola's side claimed a fourth successive Premier League title in 2023/24 – a new English record – but lost to neighbours Manchester United in the FA Cup final to miss out on what would have been a second successive double.

Sparta Praha

Record vs English clubs: W4 D4 L14 F16 A42
Away record vs English clubs: W1 D2 L8

Sparta were eliminated from European competition by English opposition last season losing 1-5 at home and 6-1 away to Liverpool in the UEFA Europa League round of 16.

That made it six losses in their last seven games in England (D1), where Sparta's sole victory came on their second visit – 3-2 at Watford in the 1983/84 UEFA Cup third round first leg (7-2 aggregate).

Sparta won three of their first four games against English clubs but a 1-0 home defeat of Southampton in the 2016/17 Europa League group stage is their only victory in their subsequent 18 matches, a run that includes 13 defeats.

Sparta featured in the Champions League group stage seven times, one more than all the other Czech clubs combined – although their last appearance came in 2005/06, the seventh time in nine seasons they had made it that far.

The Prague club subsequently lost nine times in qualifying – including in 2023/24, when they were eliminated on penalties by Copenhagen in the third qualifying round (0-0 a, 3-3 h aet, 2-4 pens).

Sparta therefore moved into the Europa League and finished second in their section behind Rangers before eliminating Galatasaray in the knockout round play-offs (2-3 a, 4-1 h) only for Liverpool to prove too strong in the last 16 (1-5 h, 1-6 a).

Rudí started this season in the Champions League second qualifying round, defeating Shamrock Rovers (2-0 a, 4-2 h) before getting the better of FCSB (1-1 h, 3-2 a). Sparta sealed their return to the competition proper after 19 seasons by beating Malmö 2-0 both away and at home in the play-offs.

The Prague club won their first three away European games in 2024/25 – as many as in their previous 27 matches (D3 L21).

Lars Friis succeeded the Feyenoord-bound Brian Priske as Sparta coach in June.

Priske had taken Sparta to their second successive league title, and 38th overall, in 2023/24 – the first time the club had won successive championships since 2001. Sparta also claimed the Czech Cup last season for a 16th time, completing a sixth domestic double.

Links and trivia

Guardiola played twice against Sparta in the group stage of the 1991/92 European Cup, starting Barcelona's 3-2 home win on Matchday 1 and the 1-0 loss in Prague on Matchday 5.

Erling Haaland and Markus Solbakken are both Norway internationals.

Latest news

Manchester City

City have won six of their eight games in this season's Premier League (D2). On Sunday, a 95th-minute John Stones header earned a 2-1 comeback victory at Wolves.

That made it 31 league matches unbeaten (W25 D6), a new club record.

Erling Haaland has ten goals in eight Premier League matches this season although none in his last three.

Haaland became Norway's top scorer on 10 October, hitting two in a 3-0 UEFA Nations League win against Slovenia to make it 34 goals for his country.

Jack Grealish scored in England's 3-1 win in Finland on 13 October.

A day earlier, Bernardo Silva had scored in Portugal's 3-1 victory against Poland.

Nathan Aké has been out since 10 September with a thigh injury although he was an unused substitute on Sunday.

Rodri suffered a cruciate ligament injury against Arsenal on 22 September and has undergone surgery that is expected to rule him out for the rest of the season.

Kevin De Bruyne has not played since going off at half-time on Matchday 1 with a groin injury.

Oscar Bobb suffered a leg fracture in training on 14 August.

On 12 October City confirmed that director of football Txiki Begiristain will step down at the end of the season, to be succeeded by Hugo Viana, who holds a similar role at Sporting CP.

Sparta

The Prague club were 2-1 winners at home to Slovan Liberec on Saturday, Lukáš Haraslín scoring a late winner.

A 2-3 home defeat against Sigma Olomouc on 27 September ended Sparta's 19-match run without a league defeat (W15 D4).

Sparta had been unbeaten in all competitions since the 6-1 loss at Liverpool in the UEFA Europa League round of 16 second leg on 14 March; their subsequent record was W23 D5.

Sparta went down 2-1 at city rivals Slavia Praha on 6 October – the first time they had lost successive league matches since May 2022.

Indrit Tuci made his Albania debut in a 2-0 UEFA Nations League loss in Czechia on 11 October.

Haraslín scored in Slovakia's 3-1 win in Azerbaijan on 14 October.

Ermal Krasniqi was on target in both matches as Kosovo beat Lithuania 2-1 and Cyprus 3-0.

Kryštof Daněk was on target as Czechia overcame Lithuania 3-0 in a 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifier on 15 October.