Manchester City travel to Germany for their Champions League clash against RB Leipzig on Wednesday night and they will be looking to build on their win against F.C. Zvezda last week.
Meanwhile, Leipzig picked up a 3-1 away win against Young Boys in their Champions League opener and they will be looking to pick up a morale-boosting win at home against the Premier League giants.
The two sides met in the Champions League back in March and Manchester City picked up a thumping 7-0 win over the German club and RB Leipzig will be out for revenge this time out.
Manchester City are coming into this contest on the back of the defeat against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League and it remains to be seen whether RB Leipzig can pile further misery on them. The Germans picked up an impressive draw against Bayern Munich in the last game, and they will fancy their chances of getting something out of this contest as well.
๐ฃ๐ฅ๐๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ก๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ก๐๐
๐ RB Leipzig
๐ @PepTeam & @rubendias
๐ @ChampionsLeagueWatch live โคต๏ธ
— Manchester City (@ManCity) October 3, 2023
Team News & Tactics
RB Leipzig
Marco Rose will be without the injured quartet Dani Olmo, Willi Orban, El Chadaille Bitshiabu and Timo Werner for this game.
The home side are likely to shape up in a 4-2-2-2 formation with Janis Blaswich in goal. Benjamin Henrichs and David Raum are likely to be deployed as the full-backs here and they will look to contribute defensively and keep the defensive unit compact. Mohammed Simakan will start at the heart of the life defence alongside Castelo Lukeba.
Xaver Schlager will start alongside Nicholas Seiwald in the midfield pivot and the two players will look to protect the central defenders and win the ball back for their side. They will also look to break up the opposition attacks and initiate counter-attacking opportunities.
Xavi Simons and Emil Forsberg will be deployed as the inverted attacking midfielders and they will look to create goalscoring opportunities and provide width to the side from time to time.
Yussuf Poulsen will start in attack alongside Lois Openda.
Probable Lineup (4-2-2-2): Blaswich; Henrichs, Simakan, Lukeba, Raum; Schlager, Seiwald; Simons, Forsberg; Poulsen, Openda
Manchester City
Kevin De Bruyne is the only injury problem for the visitors here. The Belgian midfielder is a long-term absentee.
Apart from the Belgian, Manchester City have a fully fit squad to choose from.
Ederson Moraes is set to start in goal behind the back of Kyle Walker, Manuel Akanji, Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol. The likes of Walker and Gvardiol will start as the full-backs and they will look to contribute at both ends of the pitch.
In the midfield pivot, Mateo Kovacic will start alongside Rodri. While Rodri will look to break up the opposition attacks, Kovacic will add control and creativity to the side.
Julian Alvarez will be deployed as the central attacking midfielder with Phil Foden and Jeremy Doku in the wide areas. Erling Haaland will lead the line for the visitors.
Probable Lineup (4-2-3-1): Ederson; Walker, Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol; Rodri, Kovacic; Foden, Alvarez, Doku; Haaland
Key Stats
- 21 goals have been scored in the last four meetings between these two sides.
- RB Leipzig have picked up five wins and a draw from their last six matches across all competitions.
- Manchester City have lost their last two matches across all competitions.
- RB Leipzig are unbeaten in the last two home matches against Manchester City.
Key Player
Erling Haaland
Erling Haaland currently has more Premier League goals (8) than over half of the league, including Manchester United and Chelsea ๐ณ pic.twitter.com/Ur2f2ijpz7
— ESPN UK (@ESPNUK) September 26, 2023
The 23-year-old Manchester City striker has nine goals and two assists in his last 10 appearances for club and country. Erling Haaland is a man in form and he is our key player to watch out for against RB Leipzig.
The striker has played in the Bundesliga before and he will know all about the German club. He could cause all sorts of problems for the RB Leipzig defence with his movement and clinical finishing ability. The German outfit have conceded four goals in the last two matches and Haaland has the ability to exploit their vulnerabilities.
Prediction
RB Leipzig 1-2 Manchester City
The German outfit will look to continue their impressive run of form and pick up a win at home. They have picked up five wins and a draw from the last six matches and the home fans will be confident heading into this game. However, Manchester City are coming into this game on the back of two defeats and they will be desperate to bounce back strongly.
They are one of the best teams in the world and the players will be motivated to turn things around. This is likely to be a close encounter, but the Premier League outfit have enough quality to emerge victorious in the end. A narrow 2-1 win for Manchester City is on the cards here.
