Leipzig-Manchester City is a match from the second day of the Champions League group stage and is played on Wednesday at 21:00: tv, formations, predictions
Neither Leipzig nor Manchester City failed to live up to expectations on matchday one, with the two big favourites for the top two places in Group G beating Young Boys of Switzerland and Red Star Serbians 3-1 respectively.
The hierarchies, therefore, already seem well defined within this group: the Germans will now try to take advantage of one of the few moments of ‘relaxation’ of the champions of all, defeated twice in a row in the space of just three days, first in the League Cup, one of the two national cups, and then in the Premier League. No alarm bells, however, for Pep Guardiola’s battleship, which on Saturday cashed in its first league knockout by wasting a flood of chances in the match against Wolves (2-1). The team has a moment of downturn – almost physiological after such a drumbeat start – but the defeat against Wolverhampton in any case had no major repercussions on the standings: the Cityzens remain first, one point ahead of the pair formed by Tottenham and Arsenal and two ahead of Liverpool. Guardiola is probably paying for the absence of some key men such as De Bruyne, Stones and probably Bernardo Silva as well.
Leipzig dream of a feat
An extremely positive moment instead for Leipzig, who after a series of six wins in a row also managed to put a spoke in Bayern Munich’s wheels.
Openda and Schlager
The Roten Bullen narrowly missed out on a heavy victory against the reigning German champions on Saturday: leading by two goals in the first half-hour, they were caught up in the second half first by Kane (penalty) and then by Sané (2-2). Marco Rose’s men did not look out of place against an opponent of Bayern’s calibre, proving that they have what it takes to fight for the title. In the standings, Leipzig are just -3 off the lead, with their Bundesliga debut defeat to Bayer Leverkusen making the difference. The red and white infirmary is also very crowded: besides losing Dani Olmo and Orban, Rose will also have to do without defender Henrichs. Instead, striker Werner will be available, but he is expected to start from the bench. Leipzig, who on the other side of the pitch will be reunited with ex-Gvardiol, who joined City in the summer for €90m.
The Prediction
In the four previous encounters between the two teams – two of which were staged last spring – Leipzig have always managed to avoid defeat in front of their home crowd, only to suffer momentous beatings in England (6-3 and 7-0). The Roten Bullen are in a good moment and might be able to hold their own this time against Manchester City, who are less lethal than a few weeks ago. The total goals are likely to be at least three.
Leipzig-Manchester City
likely line-ups.
- LIPSIA (4-4-2): Blaswich; Klostermann, Simakan, Lukeba, Raum; Simons, Kampl, Schlager, Fábio Carvalho; Openda, Poulsen.
- MANCHESTER CITY (4-2-3-1): Ederson; Walker, Akanji, Rúben Dias, Gvardiol; Rodri, Kovačić; Foden, Julian Álvarez, Grealish; Haaland.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 2-2
