Manchester City vs RB Leipzig Preview
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Manchester City and RB Leipzig will battle it out for a spot in the last eight with their two-legged affair tied at 1-1 after a draw at the Red Bull Arena three weeks before this clash at the Etihad.
City have been on a rampage since the draw in Germany, as they've gone on to score 10 goals in four games and let in just one goal. That one goal came in a 4-1 hammering over Bournemouth, just before Pep Guardiola's men went on to ease past Bristol City in the FA Cup fifth round and then beat Newcastle United and Crystal Palace in the Premier League.
Leipzig have had a topsy-turvy time since the 1-1 draw, as they managed to defeat Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 and beat Borussia Monchengladbach 3-0, although a 2-1 loss to Borussia Dortmund has handed their title hopes a huge blow.
Riyad Mahrez got the Premier League side off and running at the Red Bull Arena towards the end of February, but it was Josko Gvardiol who stole the headlines after his goal 20 minutes from time to force a 1-1 draw ahead of this clash.
All eyes will turn on Erling Haaland once again in this game, as he goes in search of his 29th goal in the Champions League already. The Norwegian was the hero from the penalty spot against Crystal Palace last weekend, and he has now scored 34 goals in 35 games for City this campaign.
He and his City colleagues are no doubt the favourites to progress here into the last eight, but Leipzig’s form against English sides in two legs isn’t the worst out there. They beat Tottenham Hotspur 4-0 on aggregate in 2019/20, although they did lose 2-0 in both legs against Liverpool a year later at the same stage of the competition.
Former Chelsea man, Timo Werner, scored with a fantastic finish against Gladbach last time out and likely starts here. Amadou Haidara came off the bench in the last game and he could start in this game for more midfield solidity. Christopher Nkunku was on the bench for the first leg because of a knee issue and a fresh hamstring issue keeps him out here. Xaver Schlager, Peter Gulacsi and Abdou Diallo are all out as well.
Quite incredibly, City have no injuries to deal with here. Kevin De Bruyne is surely going to start this one after missing the starting XI in the recent away trip to Palace, and the same applies for Riyad Mahrez and Kyle Walker.
Phil Foden has managed to overcome a scare on his foot injury and he is set to be fit here. Julian Alvarez has scored two goals in six Champions League games and may come off the bench to get more action.
Haaland has scored six goals in four games against Leipzig from his Dortmund days and this remains one his best records against another team - two of those goals came in a DFB-Pokal final, although he failed to score against them across two games last season.
