Dinamo Zagreb v Manchester City facts

Dinamo Zagreb must win and hope for help from elsewhere as they round off their Group C campaign at home to section winners Manchester City looking to join their visitors in the UEFA Champions League round of 16.

• While City have an unassailable five-point lead at the top of the standings, Dinamo are third on five points – one behind Shakhtar Donetsk and one ahead of Atalanta. Dinamo will therefore go through if they beat City and Shakhtar do not win at home against Atalanta.

• On Matchday 2, in what was City's first fixture against a Croatian club, second-half goals from Raheem Sterling (66) and Phil Foden (90+5) gave the home side the points in Manchester, inflicting a sixth defeat in seven visits to England on Dinamo, who have beaten English opposition only once in UEFA competition.

Form guide
Dinamo 
• Dinamo have not won since a 4-0 home success against Atalanta on Matchday 1, achieved thanks to Mislav Oršić's hat-trick, which made him the first player to hit three goals for a Croatian club in a UEFA Champions League group encounter.

• After losing at City in their second game, Dinamo then drew 2-2 at Shakhtar and 3-3 at home to the Ukrainian side – Shakhtar scoring twice in added time to deny Dinamo victory – before a 2-0 defeat at Atalanta in their fifth fixture.

• Dinamo have won only five of their 41 matches in the UEFA Champions League group stage (D7 L29); they suffered six defeats in their most recent participation, in 2016/17. They had lost 11 successive matches, and won only one of 27 (D2 L24) – a 2-1 defeat of Arsenal in Zagreb in September 2015 that ended a 16-year wait for a victory in the competition proper – before beating Atalanta on Matchday 1.

• That defeat of Arsenal is Dinamo's only win against an English club in 12 previous fixtures, home and away (D2 L9). At home their record is W1 D1 L3, with three successive defeats preceding the victory against Arsenal.

• Dinamo claimed their 13th Croatian league title in 14 seasons in 2018/19 – and 20th in all – but their UEFA Champions League campaign came to an early end with a play-off defeat against Young Boys. Moving into the UEFA Europa League, the Zagreb club finished first in their section before getting the better of Viktoria Plzeň in the round of 32, then bowing out after extra time against Benfica in the last 16 (1-0 h, 0-3 a).

• Nenad Bjelica's side started this season's UEFA Champions League in the second qualifying round, easing past Georgia's Saburtalo 5-0 on aggregate (2-0 a, 3-0 h) before a 5-1 victory over two games against Ferencváros of Hungary (1-1 h, 4-0 a). They then overcame Rosenborg in the play-offs, winning 2-0 at home before a 1-1 draw in Norway.

• Dinamo are unbeaten in ten home European fixtures (W7 D3). A second-leg loss to Young Boys in last season's UEFA Champions League play-offs (1-2) is their only defeat in the last 15 such matches (W10 D4).

• This is Dinamo's seventh UEFA Champions League group campaign overall, and fifth in nine seasons. They have failed to qualify from the group stage in all six previous attempts. In fact, 2018/19 marked the first time in 14 UEFA club competition group stage campaigns – including eight in the UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League – that the Croatian club had made it through to the next phase.

Manchester City
• City won their first three games in Group C – at Shakhtar (3-0) and at home to Dinamo and Atalanta (5-1) – before their four-game winning streak in the UEFA Champions League ended with a 1-1 draw in Italy. City were then also held 1-1 at home by Shakhtar on Matchday 5.

• City have scored 26 goals in their last nine UEFA Champions League matches; since losing at home to Lyon on Matchday 1 last season (1-2) their record is W10 D3 L1 with 41 goals scored and 13 conceded.

• In 2018/19, City recovered from that defeat at home to Lyon to finish first in Group F ahead of the French club, Shakhtar and Hoffenheim, picking up 13 points. They brushed aside Schalke 10-2 on aggregate in the last 16, but for the second year running lost to English opposition in the quarter-finals, Tottenham eliminating them on away goals after a dramatic 4-4 aggregate draw (0-1 a, 4-3 h).

• Guardiola's side have won 11 of their last 20 European matches, home and away, losing six. Away from home it is five wins in nine matches (D2 L2), both defeats coming in England; the last game they lost abroad was at Shakhtar (1-2) on Matchday 6 of the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League.

• This is the Citizens' ninth UEFA Champions League campaign; they have been involved in the group stage every season since 2011/12 and have now reached the round of 16 in seven successive campaigns.

• City's best UEFA Champions League performance was reaching the 2015/16 semi-finals.

• Champions of England for the second season running and sixth overall – four of those titles having come in the last eight years – City also lifted the FA Cup and League Cup in 2018/19, becoming the first English club to win all three domestic trophies in one season.

Links and trivia
• Have played in England:
Kevin Théophile-Catherine (Cardiff 2013/14)
Ivo Pinto (Norwich 2016–19)

• Nikola Moro provided an assist in Croatia's 3-3 draw against England in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship on 24 June; Foden played 90 minutes for England.

Latest news

Dinamo
• Dinamo have lost only one of their last 12 games in all competitions (W8 D3), the Matchday 5 defeat at Atalanta.

• Dinamo have won eight of their last nine league games (D1), most recently the 2-1 victory at Istra 1961 on 30 November and Friday's 1-0 home defeat of Varaždin.

• Dinamo are unbeaten in the league since a 1-0 loss at Varaždin in the eighth round of matches on 21 September. That was Dinamo's second league defeat of the season, as many as they suffered in the whole of 2018/19.

• Dinamo Zagreb have lost only one home game since April 2018 (W36 D6), the 2-1 loss to Young Boys in the UEFA Champions League play-off second leg in August 2018.

• Damian Kądzior gave Dinamo the lead at Istra and has seven goals in his last 12 matches for Dinamo.

• Mislav Oršić got the winner at Istra, his 17th goal in all competitions for Dinamo this season in his 24th appearance, including 13 in his last 14 matches. He has scored three hat-tricks, and was an unused substitute against Varaždin on Friday.

• Amer Gojak returned as a second-half substitute on Matchday 5, his first appearance since suffering an ankle injury against Osijek on 27 October. He has started both league games since that Atalanta match.

• Dinamo kicked off the new season with a 1-0 win against Rijeka in the Croatian Super Cup on 13 July.

Manchester City
• Claudio Bravo is, at 36 years 207 days, the oldest player to have appeared in this season's UEFA Champions League – though his substitute appearance against Atalanta on Matchday 4 ended prematurely as he was sent off.

• City have won just two of their last seven matches in all competitions (D3 L1); the 4-1 Premier League success at Burnley on 3 December ended a run of three away games without a victory (D2 L1).

• The English champions lost 2-1 at home to neighbours Manchester United on Saturday, and are in third place, 14 points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool.

• That was only City's second defeat in 12 matches in all competitions (W7 D3), having also gone down 3-1 away to Liverpool on 10 November.

• City have lost four games in this season's Premier League, the same total as in the whole of 2018/19.

• City have still suffered only four defeats in their last 32 matches in all competitions (W23 D5).

• Thirty-two points after 16 games represents Josep Guardiola's lowest total as a manager at this stage of a season.

• Kevin De Bruyne has provided nine assists in this season's Premier League – the most in the division – with David Silva joint third on six.

• English League Cup winners in the last two seasons, and four of the last six campaigns, City reached this season's quarter-finals with a 3-1 home win against Southampton on 29 October. They will visit third division Oxford in the last eight on 18 December.

• City were 8-0 winners at home to Watford in the Premier League on 21 September, their biggest win in the English top flight. They led 5-0 after 18 minutes, the fastest any side has established that scoreline in a Premier League match.

• Sergio Agüero found the net in City's first six league games of the season, eight goals in all, but has scored only once in seven matches since. He has not played since suffering a groin injury in the 2-1 home win against Chelsea on 23 November.

• Guardiola's side have scored 63 goals in their 24 matches this season, and 44 in their 16 league games.

• Raheem Sterling has scored 15 goals in 22 club games this season, and has 19 goals and nine assists in 27 games for City and England in 2019/20, although he has scored only once in his last six City matches.

• John Stones limped off early in the second half on Saturday.

• Oleksandr Zinchenko has not played since 14 October and subsequently underwent knee surgery.

• Aymeric Laporte damaged the cartilage and lateral meniscus in his right knee during a 4-0 home win against Brighton on 31 August and is expected to be sidelined for around six months.

• Leroy Sané is also facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury to his right knee during the FA Community Shield against Liverpool on 4 August.

• City won the Community Shield for the sixth time overall – and second year in a row – with a 5-4 shoot-out defeat of Liverpool at Wembley, Sterling scoring City's goal in a 1-1 draw.