Team news, predicted lineups and key insights ahead of RB Leipzig vs. Manchester City in the 2026/27 Champions League.
RB Leipzig’s perfect home record will face the first big test as Martin Demichelis welcomes his former club Manchester City on Wednesday. The hosts have won all five of their first RedBull Arena games under the Argentine coach.
They also broke their away curse with a commanding 2-0 win over home-shy Schalke on Saturday after surviving a DFB-Pokal upset at 3. Liga side RW Essen with ten players. However, in his post-match interview after his first away points, Demichelis surprisingly hinted at initiating his own departure if targets aren’t met at the end of the season.
After completely missing from Europe in the season their stadium hosted the Conference League final, Leipzig are now back in the premier competition. They lost 4-1 away to debutants Como and record champions Real Madrid, but Brajan Gruda’s late goal gave them three points against Peter Bosz’s PSV in a game Ivan Perisic missed a first-half penalty-kick.
Manchester City lost to defending champions PSG at the Etihad Stadium between their convincing victories over Porto and AEK Athens. Enzo Maresca’s side dropped to second place in the Premier League after successive defeats to Aston Villa and Brighton, and they needed a penalty shootout to knock the latter from EFL Cup last week.
Head-to-head
Including the 7-0 win in March 2023, in which Erling Haaland scored record-tying five goals before Pep Guardiola surprisingly subbed him off in the 63rd minute, the ten-time England champions won four of their first six meetings with Leipzig.
Surprisingly, that wasn’t the highest scoring fixture between the clubs as Guardiola’s men were 6-3 winners in the first-ever clash with Leipzig. Christopher Nkunku, who returned to the Bundesliga club this summer, scored a hat-trick back then, while Angelino was sent off against his former club. RB Leipzig won the reverse group stage fixture 2-1 in that COVID-hit 2021/22 Champions League campaign.
The former center-back Demichelis spent three years in Machester as he won the Premier League in his first season with the club.
Team News
Long-term absentees Marc Guiu and Assan Ouedraogo are the only ones set to miss the fixture from the hosts. The captain David Raum and the in-form winger Antonio Nusa are linked with several Premier League clubs, while Christoph Baumgartner could finally be fit enough for a starting berth.
Josko Gvardiol returns to Leipzig for the second time since his big money move to Manchester City, while 17-year-old German-English striker Floyd Samba made his Champions League debut on matchday 3. Antoine Semenyo will be absent from the traveling squad because of a knee injury.
Predicted Lineups
Click here to see our predicted RB Leipzig vs. Manchester City lineups.
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