Manchester City host RB Leipzig at Etihad Stadium in the second leg of their Round of 16 tie in 2022-23 UEFA Champions League.
With the tie locked 1-1 on aggregate, victory would see either team advance to the Quarter-Finals but another draw would send the tie to extra-time and possibly penalties.
Team News
Man City have no fresh injury concerns to report with a full squad in contention following their narrow Premier League win at Crystal Palace.
RB Leipzig are set to be without Christopher Nkunku after he suffered a hamstring injury during a Bundesliga match earlier this month.
Xaver Schlager (ankle), Peter Gulacsi and Abdou Diallo (both knee) all remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Man City host RB Leipzig at 8pm GMT on Tuesday 14 March at Etihad Stadium, live on BT Sport in UK.
Stat Attack
- Man City are unbeaten in two of three previous meetings against RB Leipzig (W1, D1, L1).
- RB Leipzig lost their only previous visit to Man City in September 2021 by a 6-3 result.
- Both teams have scored in each of their three previous meetings.
- Julian Alvarez and Riyad Mahrez have both scored in each of City’s last two Champions League matches at home (W2).
- Each of RB Leipzig’s six away goals in Champions League this season have been scored by six different players (W2, L1), with those six goals coming in wins at Celtic and Shakhtar Donetsk.
Prediction
Having weathered a hectic few weeks of squad rotation amidst a heavy pile of fixtures, Man City have done well to avoid defeat but their end product quality has been sluggish at times which was apparent in their narrow win at Crystal Palace via a late penalty amidst poor finishing.
Pep Guardiola though can take heart from how dominant his team were at Selhurst Park but their task now will be to maintain that performance, but ensure that their overall end product is less wasteful because RB Leipzig are no pushovers as they proved in the first leg.
RB Leipzig though come into this game off the back of a clinical Bundesliga win over Borussia Monchengladbach, meaning that they’ve failed to score just once in 2023 but I do expect them to come and adopt the same defensive tactics which saw them snatch a draw in the first leg.
City though should have enough quality to beat RB Leipzig if they play like they’ve done lately, albeit with tidier finishing because if they waste chances like they did at Palace then they will eventually get rumbled by stronger opposition.
Prediction: Manchester City 2-1 RB Leipzig
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