Copenhagen in the group stage of this season's UEFA Champions League competition was very impressive and the fact that they progressed in a group were big teams like Galatasaray and Manchester United failed to make it out of the group, tells how good of a side they are and can be. Against Manchester City in the round of 16 of the competition, I expect Copenhagen to play in their full strength without fearing the world, European and English Premier League champions.
However, Pep Guardiola's Manchester City is one team that doesn't only play top football performance when one or two player of the team is around. During the start of the season, Kelvin De Bruyne was injured and was sidelined for over four months and that didn't stop Manchester City from winning games as they won all the six games they played in the group stage without De Bruyne. Copenhagen might prove to be a strong team to play against but against Manchester City in the round of 16, I expect Pep Guardiola's men to sweep them aside and progress to the next round of the competition even without the help of Kelvin De Bruyne.
Yes, I was also very impressed to see FC Copenhagen in the preliminary round until they were able to qualify for the knockout phase. Even though previously the Danish representatives did not get a good assessment at all to be able to qualify and it turns out they were able to prove that.
FC Copenhagen will certainly bring the same enthusiasm when they meet Manchester City. I think Copenhagen will carry out the same maneuver again during the group stage and they will not be burdened at all. Due to what has been done, Manchester City must be aware of this threat, because even though City is very favored, Copenhagen cannot be taken lightly as an opponent.
Though I don't see Copenhagen going any further is the champions league due to the strong opponent they're facing in the round of sixteen but regardless, I think Copenhagen deserves some accolade by the country (Denmark) they're representing in the Champions league because it's not for the club to reach the knockout stages for twice now as their first was in 2010/2011 season and now the second time and they've also reached Europa league quarter finals in the 2019/2020 Europa season. So this is a very good achievement for the Denmark club in their European history and if they continue making improvements in European competitions then they might achieve a surprise European trophy one of the seasons.
I know they won't be going too far in this season champions league because Manchester city doesn't gamble with mediocre teams like Copenhagen at all though they made a very good attempt in their match against Bayern Munich by holding Munich to a goalless draw and some people may be thinking that they can also do the same with Manchester city, though the impact they've created is very impressive by looking at their group stage matches that they conquered some stronger and more experienced clubs and made their way to the knockout stages but definitely, Manchester city may not actually give them that opportunity the other clubs gave them while they were in the group stages.