Manchester City play their future in Europe against Leipzig

He Manchester City, from Pep Guardiola and the Norwegian striker Erling Haaland and Leipzig, which will represent the loss of French Christopher Nkunku, This Tuesday, a “delicate” game awaits them for both sides, since they have reached the quarterfinals Champions League, in a round in which everything will be decided after 1-1 in the first game, on German soil.

Not in any scenario Manchester City looks like this tie. It’s not because of overconfidence, but because the need for the ‘Sky Blues’ no longer plays a good role in Europe, but winning the title is crying out to heaven. This context reduces pressure in RB Leipzigwho will try to surprise the opponent on the home field.

After not missing a meeting with the ‘Champions’ since 2012, baggage City That’s from one final and two semi-finals this term, a far cry from the dominance they’ve shown in England, with more than a dozen trophies proving their supremacy on home soil.

This season, with Arsenal leading by five points premier league, League Cup lost and still alive in the FA Cup, City continue to look, perhaps more than ever, to the Champions League they want, which the quality and price of their squad almost requires as an obligation. And they play that against Leipzig at home. Unsurprisingly, this weekend headlines like Kevin de Bruyne and Kyle Walker.

0-1 win against The Crystal Palace left a taste of relief in City, after one of his most monotonous performances, interrupted only by a penalty goal from Erling Haaland, who has 28 goals this season. first league playerthe same figure that the Norwegian has in his participation in ‘champions‘.

The city sinned the weekend with a lack of creativity, which it will have to show before a Leipzig more dangerous in attack and in transitions than Crystal Palace. For that, they will bring back De Bruyne and maybe Riyad Mahrez, who rested on Saturday and played all the “Champions” games this season, in the starting eleven. The Algerian will replace him with Phil Foden, who has returned to the fore with four goals in the last four games.

If they reach the quarter-finals, it will be City’s sixth consecutive appearance in this round.

For his part, he RB Leipzig they are currently third in the Bundesliga, where they recently beat Gladbach 3-0 at home and face a clash with equal precedents as the two teams have met three times before, one of which ended in a draw and the other two with wins for each.

This time, they are waiting for the match without Christopher Nkunku, since the French striker suffered a muscle tear in his left thigh, which will keep him out for at least the whole of March, and without Austrian Xaver Schlager, who is still undergoing rehabilitation. Peter Gulacsi and Abdou Diallou will also miss out due to injuries.

The star will be there this season as well, the defender Joško Guardiol, who has already scored goals in Champions League against Manchester City and against Real Madrid. It was against the Whites that Marco Rose’s team lost their last international game 2-0 on September 14 last year.