‘Hopefully no Coutinho 2020 vibes’ – Man City fans react as club confirm Joao Cancelo eligibility for Bayern Munich following Champions League draw

Joao Cancelo is free to face Manchester City with Bayern Munich in April’s blockbuster Champions League quarter-final tie.

Cancelo fell out of favour at City and headed to the Bundesliga until the end of the season in January.

Both clubs are still in the Champions League and have been paired together in the Champions League quarter-finals, throwing up a highly-intriguing reunion with Joao Cancelo.

But can the Portuguese international feature for the German giants against his parent club? Yes! While Premier League rules do not allow players who are on loan to face their parent club, no such law exists in European competition.

Manchester City have confirmed in light of the draw that Joao Cancelo will be eligible to feature for Bayern Munich across the two-legged tie, with no agreement placed in the loan deal that would prevent him from playing in the contest.

The news was shared on Twitter by City Xtra and it attracted plenty of attention from the club’s supporters.

@HopeMasilela20: “Cancelo will have the Game of his life against us .”

@JMC_OfficiaI: “He ain’t starting anyway 😂”

@Gundolorian: “He won’t even play!”

@bruynre: “He’ll be on the bench so i don’t care.”

@_Jaybeet04th: “He will be on the bench anyways.”

@MancityGP: “Stanisic will definitely start ahead of him if Cancelo starts we are going to have a field day.”

@halimyaaya: “Who cares about Cancelo. My headache is Musiala 😭”

@Belispoken: “Hopefully no Coutinho 2020 vibes lmao”

Two goals and an assist – and all that in just seven minutes. Philippe Coutinho made a strong impression in FC Bayern’s 8-2 win over FC Barcelona in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

The fact that it was against his parent club emphasises the achievement even more so. In the summer of 2019, the German record champions brought the Brazilian to Munich on loan from the Catalans.