Leipzig v Man City: Champions League last 16, first leg – live | Champions League

34 min: It’s still not 100 percent clear, but replays of the goal suggest Gundogan helped on Grealish’s through ball to Mahrez by flicking it cutely through Gvardiol’s legs. It all happened in a tight space on the edge of the D. Whatever, it was a lovely, instinctive, incisive move.

32 min: Grealish comes clattering in on Klostermann, but his attempt to steal the ball only leads to his hurting himself. Just a sore one on impact, he’s up again quickly enough.

30 min: Walker wins a corner down the right. Mahrez swings it in deep. Rodri wins a header easily on the left-hand edge of the six-yard box and flashes the ball across the face of goal. Haaland can’t meet it at the right-hand post and the ball trundles out for a goal kick. So close to a quickfire second.

29 min: That’s no more than City deserve. They’ve been excellent from the get-go, with the only caveat being Leipzig have been so timid, unambitious and broadly awful.

GOAL! Leipzig 0-1 Manchester City (Mahrez 27)

25 min: A long Rodri pass down the inside-right channel nearly releases Mahrez. Well, it actually does release him, but the flag goes up for offside, Mahrez having needlessly gone too early. Meanwhile here’s Murphy Mediji: “Unsure if this has already been mentioned, but… Joško is a pet name for Josip, Pep is again Josep and Gvardiol is basically the same surname, Guardiola.”

24 min: Walker and Gundogan complete a long-distance one-two down the right. The former tears clear, reaches the byline … and sends in a cross that values hope over accuracy. Leipzig clear their lines easily enough.

22 min: City continue to hog the ball. This is absurdly one-sided in terms of possession and territory … and yet Blaswich hasn’t been put to serious work yet.

20 min: Walker, in space on the right, demands the ball off Dias, playing quarterback. Dias doesn’t spot him, which is just as well as he won’t have noticed a fuming Walker subsequently waving his arms around in anger and giving him trenchant advice while doing so.

18 min: Halstenberg’s poor clearance is intercepted by Mahrez on the slide. Bernardo Silva picks up possession and rolls infield from the right to Rodri, who whips an excitable shot miles wide and high.

17 min: … but it’s Mahrez who takes, aiming a curler towards the top left but only managing to slap the ball straight into the wall. Not his best.

16 min: Grealish, in flight and spectacularly so, is skittled over by Schlager just in front of the City D. Gundogan grabs the ball, his eyes lit up.

14 min: Leipzig finally put something together in attack. Klostermann curls in from the right and nearly lands the cross on the head of Andre Silva, who is all alone on the penalty spot. But the cross is a couple of inches too high, and the flag goes up for offside anyway.

13 min: Walker drives down the right and wins a corner off Halstenberg, the ball nearly sailing in an absurd arc over Blaswich from a tight angle. The ball only just clears the bar. Then from the corner, Dias slaps a header straight at the keeper, who claims easily.

12 min: This is all City. Grealish dribbles down the left. Walker and Mahrez probe down the right. Leipzig can’t get a sniff. The home fans nevertheless continue to give it plenty. The sweet sounds of midweek European soccer!

10 min: Grealish is clipped by Laimer out on the left. A free kick. Everyone lines up in front of the Red Bull box. Akanji’s delivery is no good, and for a second it looks as though Forsberg will latch onto a long hoofed clearance, but last man Dias puts a stop to his gallop with a no-nonsense blooter back upfield.

8 min: Gundogan, Walker and Mahrez combine crisply down the right. Gundogan bursts into the box but can’t beat the first man with his low cross. City are probing with purpose here.

6 min: Gundogan, standing in the centre circle, volleys a glorious first-time pass down the left for Grealish, who enters the box and looks for Mahrez. At which point the move breaks down, but all very pleasing on the eye nevertheless.

4 min: Blaswich launches long down the inside-right channel. Silva chases after the ball. He takes up possession but can’t get past Ake, who forces him to check his run. Fine defending, though for a nanosecond there, City looked a little light at the back.

2 min: Leipzig have barely touched the ball, happy to sit back and let City stroke it around the middle of the park, waiting for the chance to counter. The pattern of the game set early?

City get the ball rolling. Walker is allowed far too much time and space down the right, making good ground and nearly finding Haaland in space on the edge of the box with his cross. It’s intercepted and the hosts clear. A positive start by the visitors.

The teams are out! Leipzig in their home kit of white, red squiggles and fizzy bevvy logo, City in second-choice Hacienda-infused black with red diagonals. A fine atmosphere at the Zentralstadion. “Gotta ask – what’s the story with the pennants nowadays?” begins De Feu, veering dangerously close to airplane peanuts territory. “Do clubs take on a store of them every season? What do they do with them? What’s the point anymore now the internet records everything?” Dealing with your questions seriatim: don’t know; no idea; don’t know; they’re just nice to swap and keep, I guess, though I’m also aware that younger generations aren’t into actual things any more, so there’s probably no point asking this confused and scared old man. We’ll be off in a minute!

Pep Guardiola speaks to TNT Sport BT Sport. “This 11 are going to try to do a good game and get a good result for the second leg … it’s a magnificent stadium … always we play a back four, but different players … we decided to play in this line-up, nothing special … if we let them run it will be a fast game … I spent time in Germany, and if you lose balls in certain positions and you are not well prepared for their transitions, they are unstoppable.”

Pennant watch. Here’s what İlkay Gündoğan will be handing over to his opposite number Willi Orbán tonight. Some high-end embossing on display there, as plush as they come. You could probably soak up a whole spilt can of taurine-based Cardiac Compromiser using that.

How the teams got here. Leipzig only secured their place in the knockouts with a 4-0 win at Shakhtar Donetsk on matchday six. Not a bad way to bounce back after Shakhtar beat them 4-1 in Germany on the opening night.

Fancy reliving what happened when the teams met in this competition last season? Course you do. Here’s how the nine-goal thriller at the Etihad unfolded …

… and this is the way the reverse fixture went.

RB Leipzig’s star forward Christopher Nkunku is only recently back from injury so starts on the bench. Timo Werner, who won this competition with Chelsea in 2021, leads the line.

Manchester City make three changes to the starting XI selected for the 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest. Nathan Ake, Manuel Akanji and Riyad Mahrez replace Phil Foden, who drops to the bench, and Aymeric Laporte and Kevin de Bruyne, both ill and tucked up at home.

The teams

Preamble