Manchester City head to Germany looking to recover from consecutive domestic losses when they face RB Leipzig in UEFA Champions League Group G on Wednesday. Pep Guardiola’s men have lost to Newcastle United in the EFL Cup and Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League this past week so a response will be expected from the UCL titleholders.
Leipzig were up against Bayern Munich this past weekend and played out a 2-2 draw which places them three points off the Bundesliga summit and Marco Rose’s side will come up against a familiar face in City’s Josko Gvardiol here who left for Manchester this past summer. The European champions have beaten RBL in the recent past with an 8-1 aggregate victory in last year’s round of 16 likely to be motivation for the Germans to seek revenge here.
Despite that heavy score over the two legs, City are actually without a win in Germany in four visits which includes two separate meetings with Leipzig. Another loss to RBL could really alarm Guardiola who has not found himself coming off the back of two straight defeats often during his time in Manchester.
Here’s our storylines, how you can watch the match and more:
How to watch and odds
- Date: Wednesday, Oct. 4 | Time: 3 p.m. ET
- Location: Red Bull Arena — Leipzig, Germany
- Watch: Paramount+
- Odds: Leipzig +340; Draw: +320; City -143
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Team news
Leipzig: Kevin Kampl is expected to miss out with a hip injury while Timo Werner, Dani Olmo, Willi Orban and El Chadaille Bitshiabu are also recovering from injuries. Kampl’s absence likely brings Nicolas Seiwald or Amadou Haidara into the fold to pair with Xaver Schlager who scored against Young Boys in the opening game. Xavi Simons and Emil Forsberg should operate further forward although the prolific Benjamin Sesko could be a substitute on Wednesday behind Lois Openda and Yussuf Poulsen.
Potential Leipzig XI: Blaswich; Henrichs, Simakan, Lukeba, Raum; Schlager, Seiwald; Simons, Forsberg; Poulsen, Openda.
City: Kevin De Bruyne and John Stones are injured while Bernardo Silva is a doubt and could require a late fitness check. Rodri banned in the Premier League but he is eligible this midweek so should pair with Mateo Kovacic or Matheus Nunes. Gvardiol will hope to start over Nathan Ake while Jack Grealish could come in for Jeremy Doku or Phil Foden. Julian Alvarez scored twice against Crven Zvezda in the opening game and should partner the prolific Erling Haaland who has 11 goals from six outings against Leipzig.
Potential City XI: Ederson; Walker, Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol; Rodri, Kovacic; Foden, Alvarez, Doku; Haaland.
Prediction
Leipzig should test City and it is likely to be much tighter than their most recent meeting but Guardiola should get the response he is seeking here with a win over Rose’s side. A draw would not be a major surprise given the champions’ record in Germany but they will want to react after a dip in form. Pick: Leipzig 1, City 2.
