MY ACCOUNT
– City have won 18 of their 20 home games this season
– RB Leipzig have only lost one of their last 10 away games across all competitions
– Recommended bet: Draw
Manchester City welcome RB Leipzig to the Etihad Stadium for the second leg of their Champions League last-16 showdown with the score poised at 1-1.
Algeria international Riyad Mahrez capped a dominant first-half display at the Red Bull Arena three weeks ago by firing City in front, but Josko Gvardiol equalised for the Bundesliga side leaving it all to play for.
Team news
City have a clean bill of health from Saturday night’s 1-0 win at Crystal Palace in the Premier League.
Kyle Walker and Kevin De Bruyne, who both came off the bench at Selhurst Park, will be expecting a start with John Stones likely to make way as he works his way back to full fitness after an injury.
Leipzig have lost two key players since the first game. Central midfielder Xavier Schlager has damaged ankle ligaments and is expected to miss the rest of the season while top scorer Christopher Nkunku has tweaked a hamstring and has not travelled to England.
Stats
City made it four straight wins at Palace on Saturday when Erling Haaland scored his 34th goal since his summer move from Leipzig’s Bundesliga rivals Borussia Dortmund.
They have lost only once at home this season – 2-1 against Brentford in the league – winning all three Champions League group games in front of their own fans.
City average 2.5 goals per game in the Premier League while Leipzig average 2.1 goals per game in the Bundesliga, going over the two goals per game on Saturday by beating Monchengladbach 3-0.
In Nkunku’s absence they will be looking for goals from Timo Werner, who bagged four for Chelsea in last season’s Champions League and has 13 in all competitions for Leipzig, Emil Forsberg, who has three in his last three, and nine-goal Andre Silva.
Predictions
There was very little to choose between these powerful sides in the Red Bull Arena at the end of February and this promises to be another tense, tight affair.
Both teams are in good form but both can struggle to break down teams as well.
Leipzig play a pressing game which City nullified for long periods in Germany and will doubtless do so again with 70 percent possession and more.
But we have seen recently against the likes of Nottingham Forest, Crystal Palace and Leipzig, that they can struggle to carve out chances.
There are usually goals in games featuring these sides but the onus will be on Leipzig boss Marco Rose to keep things tight and hope Gvardiol can nullify Haaland, just as he did in the first game.
The stakes are sky-high so the tension will be palpable. All logic and City’s home form says the Premier League side comes through this but we have seen from Leipzig that they are the real deal and are well capable of repeating the draw from the first game at a nice price.
Back the draw at 17/4 with LiveScore Bet.
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