Manchester City vs. Borussia Mönchengladbach Champions League Betting Odds, Picks & Predictions (Tuesday, March 16)

Manchester City vs. Gladbach Odds

The showdown between Manchester City and Borussia Mönchengladbach in Champions League action Tuesday shouldn't provide much drama in terms of which team advances to the quarterfinal round of the prestigious tournament.

Gladbach enters the second leg of this set as a 27-1 underdog to move on, despite only trailing 2-0 following the first leg.

Here's a closer look at the two clubs, plus a much better bet to make than the one mentioned above.

Manchester City

Manchester City has a 14-point lead over Manchester United in the Premier League with eight matches left on the schedule. The Cityzens are almost certainly going to win the title for the third time in the last four seasons.

The big question remains: can Manchester City finally replicate its domestic success in Europe? We'll see, but getting to this year's quarterfinals seems all but certain.

It's hard to do much better than the Cityzens over the past three months. Since their 1-1 draw with West Bromwich Albion back on Dec. 15, they've won 23 of 24 matches across all competitions.

The only blemish was a 2-0 defeat against Manchester United on March 7 at Etihad Stadium. However, the club followed that up by beating Southampton (5-2) and Fulham (3-0) last Saturday.

Of note, manager Pep Guardiola rested a bunch of key players against Fulham. Raheem Sterling wasn't even included in the squad, and Kevin De Bruyne was among several regulars on the bench. And the Cityzens still made it look easy.

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Gladbach

Simply put, Borussia Mönchengladbach is in free fall. The visitors are now winless in their past eight matches in all competitions, which includes seven defeats and a draw. Gladbach's brutal run of results has led it to drop all the way down to 10th place in the Bundesliga.

Gladbach's latest result was a 3-1 loss at Augsburg, who are in 13th place, this past Friday. The club did outshoot Augsburg by a 25-10 margin, plus it topped its host in terms of expected goals (xG) by a 3.0-1.6 advantage, according to FBRef.com. However, it was another poor result nonetheless.

In general, the German outfit's performances during this stretch of play haven't been nearly as good as its most recent outing.

Gladbach generated just 5.0 xG total in their previous six Bundesliga matches, which were draws with Union Berlin and Wolfsburg; and, losses to Koln, Mainz, RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen.

Adding to its poor play was the fact Gladbach had just three shots — and 0.2 xG — the first time around against Manchester City.

Betting Analysis & Pick

Manchester City wasn't particularly impressive on the offensive side of things in the first meeting, collecting just 10 shots and 1.1 xG in the win. However, Gladbach has lost all four of its games since and just gave up three goals to Augsburg. Now, the club is away to the soon-to-be English champion.

The Cityzens don't need to go full throttle here, but that doesn't mean they won't, especially with a well-rested bunch of starters and competition for places on the line.

Eleven of Manchester City's past 14 Premier League and Champions League wins have come by more than a goal. I hit with the Cityzens as -1.5 favorites this past weekend, and I'm going back to the well again.

Pick: Manchester City -1.5 (-143)