'I came, I saw, I conquered' were the words made famous by perhaps the most celebrated Roman figure in history, but Manuel Pellegrini's side must dampen the momentum of Rudi Garcia's growing empire on Tuesday night to stand any chance of qualifying.
How Manchester City should line up
Goalkeeper
Joe Hart sees no benefits in Manuel Pellegrini's rotation system. Willy Caballero was preferred in wins over both Sheffield Wednesday and Hull City last week, despite Hart's encouraging start to the season, and although the Argentine may distribute the ball better than England's no.1, Hart certainly commands his area more audibly. Likely to start this evening.
Defence
Eliaquim Mangala successfully coated his impressive debut against Chelsea in 'merde' Saturday. The Frenchman butted an absolute beauty past his own keeper, and then dived into an unnecessary tackle in his own area to give away a penalty and sacrifice his side's early 2-0 lead. Fortunately, Edin Džeko was on hand to save the 23-year-old's blushes and the blues won the game 4-2.
Mangala is a talented individual, but still very raw, and lining up alongside Vincent Kompany every week will definitely aid his development as a defender. There's no need to drop Mangala; his confidence would sink.
Midfield
Roma have conceded just one goal in their first five Serie A fixtures, and their defence will take some breaking down. Samir Nasri's injury is a blessing in disguise for Manuel Pellegrini as it allows the pace of Jesus Navas and the energy of James Milner to infiltrate the starting eleven. Tonight, however, I'd go with the speed and creativity of the Spaniard.
Strikers
Sergio Agüero and Edin Džeko scored three goals between them on Saturday and have to line up alongside each other once again tonight. Roma's terrific defensive record may just wilt in front of City's salivating strike-force.
