Sporting can afford to play without fear at the Etihad knowing that their efforts will likely be in vain either way, but the absence of two key midfielders spells danger for the beleaguered visitors.
City need not throw caution to the wind given their healthy five-goal advantage, but Guardiola will still expect his side to win with minimal difficulty as quarter-final preparations begin.
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Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Manchester City win with a probability of 54.59%. A win for Sporting Lisbon had a probability of 26.11% and a draw had a probability of 19.3%.
The most likely scoreline for a Manchester City win was 2-1 with a probability of 8.26%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 3-1 (6.63%) and 3-2 (5.48%). The likeliest Sporting Lisbon win was 1-2 (5.66%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (6.85%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with a 1.7% likelihood.
