Image copyright: Getty Images
2022/23 UEFA Champions League
Round of 16
Second leg
Manchester City v RB Leipzig
Etihad Stadium
Manchester, England
Tuesday, 14 March 2023
Kick-off is at 20h00
Manchester City will bid to reach the
UEFA Champions League quarter-finals for the sixth year running when they host RB Leipzig in the second leg of their last-16 encounter at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday, March 14.
The tie is delicately poised after Joko Gvardiol (70') cancelled out Riyad Mahrez's 27th-minute opener to earn the Red Bulls a 1-1 draw at the Red Bull Arena in the first leg on February 22.
The Citizens have won their subsequent three games, beating Bournemouth 4-1 and Newcastle 2-0 in the Premier League, while they dispatched Bristol City 3-0 in the FA Cup fifth round.
Pep Guardiola's side are Arsenal's closest challengers for the domestic title, trailing the league leaders by five points with 12 matches remaining in the season.
Image copyright: Getty Images
Leipzig saw their Bundesliga title chances suffer a setback when they went down 2-1 to Borussia Dortmund on March 3 to fall seven points behind the top-two of Bayern Munich and BVB.
Marco Rose's team had claimed a 2-1 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt the previous weekend to keep pace with Bayern and Dortmund in the race for league honours.
Erling Haaland is City's top scorer in Europe this season, having bagged five goals in the group stages. The Norwegian striker will fancy his chances against the Red Bulls after scoring four times against them during his time in Germany.
Timo Werner has settled quickly at the Red Bull Arena after making his return to the club from Chelsea in August 2022. The German striker has scored 12 goals in all competitions, with six coming in the Bundesliga and two in the Champions League.
Image copyright: Getty Images
In team news, Guardiola has an almost fully-fit squad at his disposal, with Phil Foden the only concern after hurting his ankle against the Magpies. Rose has a number of injuries to contend with as Peter Gulacsi, Xaver Schlager (both ligaments), Christopher Nkunku, Dani Olmo (both hamstring) and Abdou Diallo (knee) remain unavailable, while Andre Silva and Lukas Klostermann (both illness) are rated doubtful.
Guardiola didn't expect the tie to be settled in the first leg and he anticipates Leipzig will put up a real fight in Manchester.
"I had the feeling that the game would be like this and it would be decided in the second leg," he said. "I would say before they scored, that for 20/25 minutes they were excellent.
"Normally, there is one concept in football that if we play like in this in the first half people will say how bad we played in the second.
"Why can you not think that Leipzig is a good team? They have not lost many games, they beat Real Madrid here in a good game. The game against Bayern Munich, Bayern was better but in the second half Leipzig was much better.
"I have a lot of respect about Leipzig and when they do good things it's because they are good."
Rose admitted the first leg was a game of two halves and he believes they can cause City more problems by playing the way they did in the second half at the Red Bull Arena.
"The two halves were very different. In the first we were very passive and were tracking back a lot. The second half was completely different and we played the way we wanted. We played at Champions League standard and it was an even game," he said.
"We're a completely different team when we make runs and can change the game when we have the ball. In the second half, we did a lot right. The stakes are high in Manchester and we'll take the draw in our stride. We want to go there and do a lot of things right once more."
Head-to-Head (Previous Champions League Meetings)
Matches - 3
Man City - 1
RB Leipzig - 1
Draws - 1
UEFA Champions League fixtures:
Tuesday, March 14
20h00: Manchester City v RB Leipzig
20h00: Porto v Inter Milan
Wednesday, March 15
20h00: Real Madrid v Liverpool
20h00: Napoli v Eintracht Frankfurt
Top the leaderboard and stand to win big
Beat the Odds this season and you could win a share of GHS 3 million in amazing prizes.
Join Betway now & bet on the UEFA Champion's League with up to GHS 200 in Free Bets. Click BET NOW below to sign up and start winning!
For all the latest sports news, betting tips and promotions follow
Betway
on
Facebook,
Twitter,
Instagram and
YouTube.
Download the Betway App.