Man City Manchester City

Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen

WHEN AND WHERE

We host the German Bundesliga side on Tuesday 25 November, with kick-off scheduled at the Etihad Stadium for 20:00 (UK).

The game will be shown live in the UK on TNT Sports 1, TNT Sports Ultimate and Amazon Prime Video. You can also keep across all of the action via the Official Man City App, as well as the key moments on X: @ManCity.

Supporters living around the world can find out how they can tune in via our global TV listings below, courtesy of liversoccertv.com

Next Fixture

All fixtures

Tue 25 Nov

Champions League

Man City

20:00

GMT

Leverkusen

OPPOSING MANAGER - KASPER HJULMAND

The Dane stepped into the role in September following the departure of Erik ten Hag and has an impressive CV to his name.

The former player was forced to retire from playing at the tender age of 26 back in 1998. He took the setback in his stride and made a seamless transition into coaching, starting at Danish outfit Lyngby as part of their youth coaching staff.

He progressed well and became the first-team manager before moving to Nordsjælland, leading them to their first ever top-flight title in 2011/12, overcoming Danish giants FC Copenhagen.

That success earned him a move to Mainz, replacing Thomas Tuchel.

However, his most impressive spell came with the Denmark national side, leading them to the semi-finals of Euro 2020, whilst also overseeing their 2022 World Cup campaign and Euro 2024 journey.

In his 14 matches in charge of Leverkusen, he has only tasted defeat twice across all competitions, with both losses coming to Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich.

DANGER MEN

Striker Patrick Schick is an obvious goalscoring threat with seven goals across all competitions this season, including the winner in Leverkusen’s last Champions League encounter against Benfica.

Schick enjoys a physical battle with defenders and is confident in the air, so the German side could look towards him in set-pieces to make a difference in both boxes.

Wing-back Alejandro Grimaldo is another one to keep a close eye on. 

With the added security of an extra defender behind him, Grimaldo has the license to charge forward, and that is proven by his seven goals and three assists this term.

PRESS CONFERENCE PREVIEW

Pep Guardiola -

“We are halfway in the group stage.

“We make an incredible four games and now we start the last four games – two home, two away – against a team third in the Bundesliga.

“It’s a massively important game to finish where we want to finish in the top eight.”

Josko Gvardiol -

“I am full of ambitions.

“I am still young and I’d like to win the Champions League.

“We need to be aware that it is quite difficult to win it because all the best teams are included.

“I’ve realised how difficult it is but one day it would be nice to get the trophy.”

TEAM NEWS

City make 10 changes for Tuesday night’s latest UEFA Champions League clash at home to Bayer Leverkusen.

From the side that started last weekend’s Premier League trip to Newcastle, Nico is the sole player to retain his place in the starting 11.

James Trafford, skipper John Stones, Tijjani Reijnders, Nathan Ake, Rayan Ait-Nouri, Abdukodir Khusanov, Rico Lewis, Oscar Bobb, Savinho and Omar Marmoush all come into the side.

For Trafford it marks a first appearance in the Champions League since his summer move to City from Burnley.

Gianluigi Donnarumma, Ruben Dias, Rayan Cherki, Jeremy Doku, Bernardo Silva, Josko Gvardiol, Matheus Nunes, Nico O’Reilly, Erling Haaland and Phil Foden all revert to the bench for a match that sees Pep Guardiola take charge of his 100th Champions League game proper for City since taking over as manager in 2016.

Rodri and Mateo Kocavic are both still unavailable for selection due to injury.

Teams

CITY XI: Trafford, Khusanov, Stones (C), Ake, Ait-Nouri, Lewis, Nico, Reijnders, Bobb, Savinho, Marmoush

Subs: Bettinelli, Donnarumma, Dias, Haaland, Cherki, Doku, Bernardo, Gvardiol, Nunes, O’Reilly, Foden

Bayer Leverkusen: Flekken, Quansah, Bade, Tillman, Schick, Poku, Grimaldo, Garcia, Maza, Kofane, Belocian. 

Subs: Lomb, Schlick, Echeverri, Ben Seghir, Tellah, J Mensah, Culbreath, Hawighorst, N. Mensah, Pohl.

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LAST TIME OUT

Our last Champions League game saw us claim an impressive 4-1 victory over the aforementioned Dortmund at the Etihad.

Foden scored two superb goals - both from distance - and Erling Haaland bagged his 18th City goal of an already incredible campaign.

Anton pulled a goal back on 72 minutes - the only blot on an otherwise sparkling display by the Blues, who now sit in fourth in the UCL league phase table. Rayan Cherki had the final say, drilling a low shot home in added time to make it 4-1.

In the Premier League, we were beaten away to Newcastle United, with Harvey Barnes’ double securing a 2-1 win for the Magpies on Saturday.

For Leverkusen, they claimed an impressive 1-0 victory away to Benfica in the Champions League, and in league terms, they secured a 3-1 away win over Wolfsburg on Saturday.

MAN CITY APP COVERAGE

Our official app allows you to follow all of the action from our Champions League clash in one place.

Minute-by-minute text updates will begin in our Matchday Centre two hours before kick-off, while our Matchday Live show will begin at around 18:45 (UK).

Andy Morrison and Steven McInerney will be the guests on the latest Matchday Live show alongside presenter Cel Spellman, offering their expert insight before, during and after the action.

During the game you can also listen to live audio commentary from Alistair Mann and Steve Howey while our text commentary continues.

Make sure to have push notifications turned on as well, so you can be alerted to key moments in the action, including goals, red cards and the team news.

We’ll have a quick-hit 2-minute highlights package available at Midnight (UK) on Tuesday and 19:00 (Global) on Wednesday.

On CITY+ meanwhile, there’ll be our popular full-match replay as well as our new extended highlights offering which features the best 20 minutes of action from the game. Both will also available at Midnight (UK) on Tuesday and 19:00 (Global) on Wednesday.

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Joao Pinheiro

Assistant referees: Bruno Jesus and Luciano Maia

Video Assistant Referee: Tiago Martins

Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Willy Delajod

Fourth official: Joao Goncalves

GLOBAL TV LISTINGS

Supporters living around the world can find out how they can tune in via our global TV listings by clicking here, courtesy of liversoccertv.com.

(Listings correct as of Tuesday 25 November)