Kevin De Bruyne comes into the side after starting on the bench for our 1-0 win away at Crystal Palace on Saturday, with Phil Foden making way for the Belgian.
We drew 1-1 with Leipzig in the first leg at the Red Bull Arena, Riyad Mahrez’s first half strike cancelled out by Josko Gvardiol’s second-half equaliser.
And tonight we face Marco Rose’s men at home here at the Etihad Stadium, kick-off 20:00 (UK time), as we look to qualify for the quarter-finals for the sixth straight season.
TEAMS
CITY XI: Ederson, Stones, Akanji, Dias, Ake, Rodrigo, De Bruyne, Gundogan (c), Bernardo, Grealish, Haaland
Subs: Ortega Moreno, Carson, Walker, Phillips, Laporte, Alvarez, Gomez, Mahrez, Perrone, Foden, Palmer, Lewis
LEIPZIG XI: Blaswich, Henrichs, Orban (c), Gvardiol, Raum, Haidara, Laimer, Forsberg, Szoboszlai, Kampl, Werner
Subs: Nyland, Nickisch, Simakan, Olmo, Poulsen, Klostermann, Andre Silva, Halstenberg, Ba
TACTICS
It’s the usual 4-3-3 for City – Pep Guardiola’s preferred formation.
Ederson is between the sticks and protected by a back four of John Stones, Manuel Akanji, Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake.
Rodrigo is the anchor man in the midfield, with Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan getting forward on either side of him.
Jack Grealish will look to work his magic on the left wing and Bernardo Silva is expected to attack down the right in support of central forward Erling Haaland.
MATCH STATS
City’s Erling Haaland has scored 17 goals in 11 home matches in the UEFA Champions League, scoring at least two goals in seven of those games. The Norwegian has scored a goal every 49 minutes on average in these matches.
City have won each of our last nine UEFA Champions League matches against German clubs as the designation home side, scoring at least two goals in each match. The last German club to win away at City in this competition were a Pep Guardiola-led Bayern München side in 2013/14.
RB Leipzig are currently unbeaten in five matches in the UEFA Champions League (W4 D1); this is their longest unbeaten run in the competition since a seven-game stretch in 2019/20 when they reached the semi-final.
City are unbeaten across our last 23 home matches in the UEFA Champions League, winning 21 of those games. If we avoid defeat in this match, we will equal Arsenal’s record for the longest home unbeaten run by an English club in the UEFA Champions League (24 games between September 2004 and April 2009).
Marco Rose has taken charge of three matches in the UEFA Champions League knockout stages, with all three coming against City, after his Borussia Mönchengladbach side were eliminated by the club in the last 16 in 2020/21. The only previous instance of a manager facing the same opponent in his first four UEFA Champions League knockout stage matches is Frank Rijkaard against Chelsea between 2004/05 and 2005/06.
City’s Riyad Mahrez has been directly involved in 11 goals across his last 12 starts in the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League (7 goals, 4 assists). The Algerian has netted in all three of his matches against RB Leipzig in the competition to date.
