RB Leipzig vs Man City LIVE: Champions League team news, line-ups and more tonight
Leipzig awaits the visit of the Premier League champions
Manchester City travel to Germany to resume their Champions League campaign as they take on RB Leipzig in the first leg of their last-16 tie. Pep Guardiola will be hoping his side brush off the emotions of conceding a late equaliser to Nottingham Forest last time out and respond with a commanding performance against the Bundesliga outfit.
City cruised through the group stages remaining undefeated in all six of their matches. They won four and played out two goalless draws, against FC Copenhagen and Borussia Dortmund, on their way to finishing top of Group G. It is no secret that Guardiola wants to win the Champions League with City, who have reached the final and semi-finals of this competition in the last two seasons, but his team come up against a resolute side in Leipzig tonight.
RB Leipzig’s European campaign started poorly. They lost their opening two matches to Shakhtar Donetsk and Real Madrid but a run of four wins ensured they qualified for the knockout rounds. The German side are fifth in the Bundesliga and come into the match on the back of a 3-0 victory over Wolfsburg. Can they cause some trouble for City this evening?
Follow all the action as RB Leipzig host Manchester City in the Champions League last-16:
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Last night in the Champions League
The scenario is doubly familiar, doubly famous. Liverpool’s two greatest comebacks in Europe came from three goals down at half-time of sorts: one against a Carlo Ancelotti side, the other against a Spanish superpower. They were three adrift after 45 minutes in the 2005 Champions League final, three behind after 90 in the 2019 semi-final. They overcame Ancelotti’s AC Milan in Istanbul on penalties and Lionel Messi’s Barcelona at Anfield with a four-goal blitz.
Now for the hat-trick? Not likely. Now they go to the Bernabeu to face Ancelotti’s Champions League holders, 5-2 down to Real Madrid already. Liverpool hare succeeded at mission improbable before but this seems mission impossible. Even the ‘Jurgener believers’ might struggle to believe now. Indeed, even Jurgen Klopp, who has turned positivity into an art form, sounded downbeat. “I think Carlo thinks the tie is over and I think it as well in the moment,” he said. Defeat led to defeatism. “Of course” it is a tougher test than Barcelona, because the second leg then was at home.
Last night’s report from a remarkable night of Champions League football:
The familiar Liverpool failings exposed by the true mentality monsters
A hat-trick of remarkable Champions League comebacks feels unlikely after Real Madrid cut Liverpool apart at Anfield
RB Leipzig vs Man City
RB Leipzig vs Man City
RB Leipzig vs Man City
In a slightly alternate world, requiring only a few different developments, Wednesday night’s match against RB Leipzig might have been a landmark event for Manchester City for the wrong reasons. It might well have represented their first Champions League knock-out fixture in three years, had Uefa’s punishment of a two-year ban not been overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in July 2020.
That might even have been the case had the governing body’s response been different.
The “fudge” that the outcome represented – where City were fined £10m for non-cooperation – is reflected in the number of questions that remain about the case, that are being asked again at the top level of football after the Premier League charged the serial champions with over 100 alleged breaches.
Ahead of tonight’s match, Miguel Delanely on the latest surrounding Manchester City’s investigation by the Premier League:
Man City and the old questions that could lead to Champions League ban
The Premier League investigation into City’s alleged financial breaches has spotlighted fresh questions arising from Uefa’s previous case against the club
RB Leipzig vs Man City
Man City had been experimenting with a back three at points in the last couple of games but it looks like Pep has decided to revert to the back four. De Bruyne will be the big loss in the centre of midfield and Silva and Gundogan – either side of Rodri – will now be tasked with providing the creative spark for the English side.
RB Leipzig vs Man City
The substitutes for both sides:
RB Leipzig: Haidara, Henrichs, Kampl, Nickisch, Nkunku, Nyland, Poulsen, Raum, Simakan
Man City: Alvarez, Carson, Charles, Foden, Gomez, Lewis, Ortega, Palmer, Perrone, Phillips, Robertson
RB Leipzig vs Man City – confirmed line-ups
RB Leipzig: Blaswich; Klostermann, Orban, Gvardiol, Halstenberg; Laimer, Schlager; Werner, Szoboszlai, Forsberg; Andre Silva
Man City: Ederson; Walker, Dias, Akanji, Ake; Silva, Rodri, Gundogan; Mahrez, Haaland, Grealish
RB Leipzig vs Man City
When is it?
The match will kick off at 8pm on Wednesday, 22 January at the Red Bull Arena.
How can I watch?
The match will be available for fans to watch on BT Sport 1 and BT Sport Ultimate. Coverage starts on both at 7pm.
RB Leipzig vs Man City – early team news
Leipzig remain without Peter Gulacsi, Dani Olmo and Abdou Diallo with the trio out with long-term injuries. The home side have been provided with a boost after both Christopher Nkunku and Konrad Laimer made appearances off the bench on the weekend. The French forward has not featured for Leipzig since November, while Laimer appears to have shaken off a thigh issue.
For Man City, John Stones is still out with a thigh problem. Kevin De Bruyne and Aymerica Laporte were also left out of City’s squad for tonight’s match.
RB Leipzig vs Man City
Welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of tonight’s last-16 Champions League first leg between RB Leipzig and Manchester City.
Pep Guardiola’s side drew 1-1 against Nottingham Forest at the weekend to hand Arsenal back a two-point lead at the top of the league table. They reached the competition’s final in 2021 – losing 1-0 to Chelsea – and were unbeaten in the group stage campaign this season, topping Group G with 14 points.
Leipzig beat Wolfsburg 3-0 on Saturday and sit fifth in the Bundesliga, four points of Bayern Munich in first.
Leipzig’s best run in the competition saw them reach the semi-finals in 2019-20, where they lost 3-0 to Paris Saint-Germain. The German side finished second in Group F behind reigning champions Real Madrid.
The sides have met twice before – in last season’s group stages – with both sides winning once.
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