RB Leipzig will take on Manchester City in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16

A rather interesting commitment has prepared the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 schedules when RB Leipzig and Manchester City will face each other on Thursday, 23rd February 2023 at 01:30 AM IST. This match is scheduled at Red Bull Arena, Leipzig. The German team came close to surprising in Group F by finishing second, just one point behind Real Madrid, while the English qualified as the unbeaten leaders of Group G.

In recent seasons, RB Leipzig has shown that it is a rather dangerous team in Europe and in this edition of the Champions League, it has a great opportunity to take another turn. Of course, for the round of 16, it does not come out as a favourite against Manchester City, but those led by Marco Rose last year already beat the English on this stage and in the Bundesliga they have come out on top against similar teams such as Bayern or Dortmund.

In fact, in their country's league, they are fifth in the standings with 39 points, five out of the three leaders: Bayern, Dortmund and Berlin. Likewise, two weeks ago Leipzig stopped a great streak of 18 games without knowing defeat in official competitions. In their run through the Champions League group stage, the Germans lost their first two games allowing six goals but bounced back by winning four in a row including at home to mighty Real Madrid.

At home in the German League, Leipzig has barely lost one game in 10 games, which came last week against Unión Berlin. In the same way, honouring their good defense, they have only allowed nine goals in front of their fans while they are the third team with the fewest goals scored in the local championship with only 26 against. For this match, they have two notable casualties such as defender Abdou Diallo and Spanish midfielder Dani Olmo.

One of the favourites to win the tournament this season begins his passage through the final rounds facing a rather difficult rival and at a not-very encouraging moment. Although it is second in the Premier Championship just two points behind Arsenal, the team led by Pep Guardiola has not found consistency this year and proof of this is that it comes from drawing with Nottingham Forest just three days after beating the Gunners for match them in the first place.

That instability in their performance is what casts doubt on the Citizens' chances of winning the Champions League title, despite finishing the group stage unbeaten against teams like Dortmund and Sevilla. Together with Bayern, the English team was the least thrashed in the first phase with only two goals conceded and in the Premier League it is the third club with the fewest goals conceded in the championship with 24.

Regarding their performance as a visitor, although City has not been comfortable playing outside Manchester, they are the second-best club on the road with 21 points in 12 games, while in the group stage, they finished with a victory and two 0-0 draws.

If Manchester City wants to show that they have what it takes to win the Champions League, without a doubt, achieving a solid result on their visit to Germany is necessary. Guardiola's men drew twice to zero goals as visitors in the group stage and Leipzig already beat them at home last season with a score of 2-1.

The City coach himself has commented that this year it has been difficult for them to play outside their fiefdom, although, in the last 26 European games, their record on the road is 15 wins, six draws and five losses. Similarly, it is necessary to highlight that both teams have good defences, but Manchester has the best striker in the Premier League with 60 goals in 24 games, while Leipzig is the third-highest-scoring team in the Bundesliga with 43.

Probable Playing XI:

RB Leipzig: Janis Blaswich; Lukas Klostermann, Willi Orban, Josko Gvardiol, David Raum; Xaver Schlager, Amadou Haidara; Dominik Szoboszlai, Emil Forsberg, Timo Werner; Andre Silva.

Man City: Ederson; Nathan Ake, Ruben Dias, Kyle Walker; Bernardo Silva, Rodri; Phil Foden, Kevin de Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, Jack Grealish; Erling Haaland.

Prediction: (Leipzig 1– Man City 3).