Champions League football makes an eagerly anticipated re-appearance at the Etihad Stadium tonight, so naturally, journalists have plenty to write about this morning.

Equally unsurprising - given their form - is that Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling’s names feature in the column inches, while Manchester City’s defensive battle with a potent Monaco strike force, is also a topic of conversation.

We’ll begin with our fleet-footed wingers, whose pace Yaya Toure feels can help propel the Blues further in Europe’s flagship club competition.

CFA training sessions have allowed the Ivorian to experience first-hand how devastating the fledgling wingers’ pace can be and he’s told the Mirror the pair are ready to be the difference makers in the Champions League.

“If you look at Raheem or Sané, they’re so quick. They can diversify the team so well when counter-attacking.

“I think so (they can be world class). Yeah. I think for them to participate in Champions League, to be able to play against a big defender, they’re going to learn more.

“I think those guys can make any defence, even in the Premier League or Europa or Champions League, they can make them suffer. In training sometimes when Sane or Raheem take me, it’s so difficult.”

Meanwhile, Monaco’s much championed forward play sees a pre-match focus on City’s defence – an area Chris Sutton suggests could be more important to the home side than their rich array of attacking talent.

“After watching Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain put their ties to bed in the first leg last week, Manchester City will be keen to take the game to Monaco,” writes the Daily Mail columnist.

“They have the players going forward to do so but the most important thing is to not concede an away goal.

“They cannot afford to be so open against a Monaco side who average almost three goals per game in Ligue 1.

“City have conceded once in their last five matches and will need to show similar steel tonight.”

ESPN’s David Mooney certainly agrees with the Argentine.

Indeed, the columnist suggests it’s vital that Pep Guardiola’s men are ahead in the tie when they head to the Principality next month.

“On paper, Monaco might have been one of the easier opponents -- but there’s nothing easy about the tie,” he writes.

“It could be a case of how many away goals they score rather than whether or not they get any at all.

“That almost makes it imperative that City take a lead into the second leg. Knowing their opposition are that potent up front must mean that Guardiola’s team has to play to their own attacking strengths, too.

“Monaco can be got at, as their defensive record shows -- letting in almost a goal a game in Ligue 1.”

That concludes today’s perusal of the City-centric news headlines and we’ll discover the outcome of today’s focus this evening.

Stick with mancity.com for all the pre-match build up!