Manchester City are the big favourites going into the Champions League encounter with FC Copenhagen on Tuesday night.
Yet, Copenhagen winger Viktor Claesson believes his side may have an unexpected advantage in the match.
City return to European competition on Tuesday as they take on the Danes in the first leg of their last 16 tie.
FC Copenhagen have enjoyed success on home turf in the Champions League this season, with the sensational atmosphere at the Parken Stadium pushing them to wins against Manchester United and Galatasaray.
It won’t be a walk in the park for Pep Guardiola’s side by any means and the home crowd isn’t even the advantage Claesson was talking about.
FC Copenhagen’s possible advantage over Manchester City
Speaking in the press conference ahead of the match, Claesson was asked about the fact his side haven’t played competitively since before Christmas.
The Danish season has been on a winter break, which has forced Copenhagen to prepare for the match by playing friendlies in the Czech Republic and Scotland.
However, Claesson thinks the rest could serve the team well against City.
“At Krasnodar I experienced playing after a long break and I think it was almost an advantage to be able to prepare for so long,” he said.
“And City played on Saturday, so they may have tired legs, etc, while we arrive completely fresh and can give 100%, so it’s not a complete disadvantage that we haven’t played for a while.”
Will it have an impact?
In contrast to Copenhagen, this will be City’s fifth match in just over two weeks as the business end of the season really starts to heat up.
The Blues did enjoy a two-week rest from action in their own winter break but it did not put them off the budding momentum they were building before hand.
City have won their last 10 matches and are hitting the sort of form they won a treble with. Copenhagen are in no sort of form at all so its impossible to tell.
Guardiola often talks about his side having to find their rhythm and it’s hard to see him swapping City’s position for their opponents’.
