City and Villarreal hope third time is lucky

Manchester City FC and Villarreal CF go into Tuesday's UEFA Champions League Group A game without a win between them but Roberto Mancini is backing his side, on one point, to get off the mark against visitors with two defeats to their name. Villarreal coach Juan Carlos Garrido warns that the Liga team are not to be taken lightly despite a disappointing start to the campaign.

Manchester City
Manager Roberto Mancini
I think we still need to learn, but [the 2-0 defeat at FC Bayern München] was only our second game in the Champions League so that's normal. All we need is a victory. Tomorrow will be hard, but if we beat Villarreal everything can change. Against Bayern in Munich you know you could well lose as they're a very strong team. They played better than us and deserved to win.

First of all we need to get three points tomorrow. Villarreal are a good team, they have played in the Champions League many times in the last ten years and they play good football. It doesn't matter how well we play, we just need to win. After this game, if we win, then we'll be back in with a chance of winning the group, depending on what happens between Bayern and Napoli of course.

Weekend result
Saturday: Manchester City 4-1 Aston Villa FC (Balotelli 28, Johnson 47, Kompany 52, Milner 71; Warnock 65)
Hart; Richards (K Touré 66), Lescott, Kompany, Clichy; De Jong, Barry, Milner, Johnson (Hargreaves 77), Y Touré (Silva 65); Balotelli

• City's ninth successive home league win took them two points clear of Manchester United FC at the summit. They have equalled Arsenal FC's Premier League record of 27 goals in their first eight matches.

Team news
Mario Balotelli serves the last match of a three-game suspension. Sergio Agüero sat out Saturday's encounter with a groin problem.

Villarreal
Coach Juan Carlos Garrido
Nobody gives us a chance, but we want to show what we can do and that Villarreal really do have top players. We're not in the best situation but we're all good professionals. We all enjoy our job, we're confident in the work we're doing and we'll all relish coming to a place like this and playing against the kind of players City have.

We need to show bravery, guts and the players need to want the ball all the time against every team. Of course that's harder against a great side like City but we've got to take the initiative, show our class, play our football, try and control the game, hold on to the ball and demonstrate our best qualities.

Weekend result
Saturday: Getafe CF 0-0 Villarreal
López; Zapata, Gonzalo, Marchena, Catalá; Valero, Senna (Wakaso 46), De Guzmán (Joselu 87), Bruno, Cani (Hernán Pérez 80); Rossi

•  Villarreal, who ended last season with two draws and two defeats, have won just two of their last 15 fixtures in all competitions. Garrido's side have not managed a victory in six away games this term, losing four.

Team news
Mateo Musacchio missed the trip to Getafe with a left thigh strain while Nilmar is still out after surgery on a right-knee cyst. Marco Ruben is nursing a broken toe and Garrido confirmed that Ángel López, Javier Camuñas and Marcos Senna were also unavailable.

Match fact
Villarreal are bidding to avoid two unwanted firsts – the Madrigal club have never lost three successive European ties and have never failed to qualify from the group stage of a UEFA competition, two of their six successful campaigns coming in the UEFA Champions League.