On Tuesday night, Manchester City will play their first-ever Champions League matchup against Slovan Bratislava in Slovakia.
Pep Guardiola's team has only won once in the last four games, which is an uncommon occurrence, and they gave up first place domestically at the weekend.
On Saturday, Manchester City's first match without Rodri ended in a 1-1 draw against Newcastle United, with Anthony Gordon's penalty in the second half canceling out Josko Gvardiol's first goal.
Thus, City's lone victory in the previous four games came against EFL Cup rival Watford last Wednesday. Guardiola's team also needed a late goal to tie Arsenal, and on Champions League matchday one, they were held by Inter Milan.
After Liverpool's victory later on Saturday, City dropped to second place in the Premier League, but they still haven't lost in ninety minutes since December, so there's no reason to worry.
City is a clear favorite going into this matchup, and if they win again, they'll tie Manchester United's record of 25 straight wins from 2007 to 2009 in the European Cup and Champions League.
This should be City's chance to get their season going after losing to Inter at home in their league phase opener. The 2023 winners will be looking to reclaim the trophy from Real Madrid.
The biggest financial difference between two clubs during the league phase may occur during this match, particularly in terms of the total cost and worth of creating each squad.
Slovan Bratislava's team is rated at just £24 million on Transfermarkt, while Man City is valued at £1.04 billion, indicating that the hosts have virtually little chance of winning their current run of five games against English clubs.
Two weeks ago, they opened their first Champions League campaign with a 5-1 loss against Celtic, which served as a harsh reality check for manager Vladimir Weiss. They have never had a more difficult task to overcome since.
At least at home, Slovan has performed well, winning all three of their games following the thumping in Glasgow and scoring a total of twelve goals.
Weiss's side sit top of the Slovakian premier league, but the European stage will give a much sterner test, even if they have won all four of their home matches on the continent so far this season.
Ultimately, Weiss will likely highlight games against Girona, Dinamo Zagreb, and Stuttgart to get their estimated nine points required to make it through, so whether or not they become the first Slovakian club to advance to the Champions League knockout stages won't be determined here or on their trips to Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid.
