For the opening Leg of the Round of 16, Manchester City of the Premier League will travel to Germany to take on RB Leipzig.
The goal for Pep Guardiola’s team will be to begin their Champions League campaign with a victory in the knockout stages. Leipzig, on the other side, will want to build on their performance during the group stage.
A lot is at stake for the Manchester based club, especially looking at their previous performances in the competition over the years.
Manchester City are aiming to mark an era this time around in the competition. It’s now or ever for Pep’s side
RB Leipzig dropped their opening two games of the group stage. Also, it appeared challenging for Die Roten Bullen to go to the knockout rounds.
Nonetheless, they were able to win their final four games to qualify by coming in second place in Group F.
One of their best performances was their 3-2 victory over Real Madrid, and they would dearly love to repeat it versus City.
After defeating the Citizens 2-1 on their previous visit to the Red Bull Arena during the group round of the competition last season, Marco Rose’s team will aim for a victory this time.
Peter Gulacsi (ACL), Dani Olmo (thigh), and Abdou Diallo (knee) will be out of commission for Leipzig owing to injuries, but Konrad Laimer and Christopher Nkunku, who both played off the bench last weekend, have given the Germans reason for optimism in terms of their health.
Nkunku made his long-awaited comeback after missing three months of action with a knee injury, but it’s unclear whether he’ll be ready to go on Wednesday after missing Tuesday’s training session.
As a result, Andre Silva might keep playing up front with support from Timo Werner, Emil Forsberg, and Dominik Szoboszlai in the final third.
Lukas Klostermann is hoping to hold off competition from Mohamed Simakan and Benjamin Henrichs for the right-back position, while Marcel Halstenberg will be vying to start ahead of David Raum at left-back. Rose may decide to make changes at full-back.
John Stones is still sidelined for Man City as he recovers from a hamstring injury, and Kevin De Bruyne and Aymeric Laporte have opted not to travel with the rest of the team because of illness.
Bernardo Silva may move from his improvised left-back position to a deep-lying midfield position alongside Rodri. In De Bruyne’s absence, Phil Foden or Kalvin Phillips may replace the captain, Ilkay Gundogan, in the middle of the field.
Nathan Ake, Manuel Akanji, and Rico Lewis all look to reclaim spots in the starting lineup.
RB Leipzig possible starting lineup:
Blaswich; Klostermann, Orban, Gvardiol, Raum; Schlager, Laimer; Szoboszlai, Forsberg, Werner; Silva
Manchester City possible starting lineup:
Ederson; Walker, Akanji, Ake; Rodri, Bernardo; Mahrez, Gundogan, Foden, Grealish; Haaland