The illustrious search goes on for that Champions League trophy in the cabinet at Manchester City. They will be hoping this could be the year they finally get their hands on the most coveted trophy in club football.
Standing ahead of them is an RB Leipzig side brimming with confidence and looking to repeat their successful exploits, like they did last season, winning 2-1.
The Champions League rarely does not live up to throwing as many twists and turns in the knockout rounds and this will be no exception. With two teams that like to play expansive attacking football, this should be a nail-biting encounter for both sets of fans and a neutral's dream watch.
City come into this game after shooting themselves in the foot in their 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forrest on Saturday, with 74% possession and all the chances they created, it was not enough to come away from the City Ground with all three points.
With the sounds of Forest fans singing “champions of Europe, you’ll never sing that” still ringing in their ears, they might be a little nervous heading to Germany, having picked up just one win in the last five competitive away matches (D1, L3).
However, what will give them hope is their European away form, having lost just five of their last 26 European away matches. City will have to be at their tantalising best to beat a Leipzig side, who they know will not just roll over across the two legs.
The hosts come into the game feeling pretty good about themselves, bouncing back from their 2-1 loss to Union Berlin that brought an end to a very impressive 18-game unbeaten run - they dispatched Wolfsburg 3-0 on Saturday in very comfortable fashion.
Manager Marco Rose wants his side to “show what they are capable of” and will be excited to test his side against the reigning English champions.
RB Leipzig have played English sides eight times in the Champions League and none of these eight games have ended in a draw, so they will be hoping to take a good result back to Manchester, to give them the best chance of progressing to the quarter-finals.
Team News
Chelsea-bound striker Christopher Nkunku was not able to complete a full training session yesterday, after featuring at the weekend in the win at Wolfsburg for the first time in three months, following his return from a knee injury. It might be a little too soon for him to feature.
Dani Olmo will also miss the tie with a thigh injury, along with Peter Gulacsi who is out with an ACL injury.
A massive blow for City as Pep Guardiola confirmed star man Kevin De Bruyne and key defender Aymeric Laporte are unavailable for tonight’s game through illness.
John Stones is also still sidelined and has not featured in a City shirt since the FA Cup tie against Arsenal in January. He will also miss the game.
Predicted Lineups
RB Leipzig: Blaswich; Klostermann, Orban, Gvardiol, Raum; Schlager, Laimer; Szoboszlai, Forsberg, Werner; Silva
Manchester City: Ederson; Walker, Akanji, Ake; Rodri, Bernardo; Mahrez, Gundogan, Foden, Grealish; Haaland
Key Players
RB Leipzig - Timo Werner
Turbo Timo will be hoping he can fire his side to victory tonight. The German striker will hope to banish his demons from his time in England and hope to recapture the form that made Chelsea sign him back in 2020.
Werner has already netted twice this Champions League campaign and will be hoping to add to his tally to fire his side to a win.
Manchester City - Erling Haaland
Haaland's City career has caught fire already and RB Leipzig will know the quality and threat that he possesses from his time in Germany.
Five goals in four Champions League games already has put him in deadly form and he will be looking to add to that.
Guardiola will be hoping that he is the missing piece to winning the Champions League this season and if he continues his scoring exploits, then Manchester City will have a very good chance of winning it.
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Match Details
Where is the game being played?
Red Bull Arena - the home of RB Leipzig
What time is kick-off?
The match kicks off at 20:00 GMT on Wednesday evening.
How can I watch it?
The game will be available on BT Sport 1, BT Sport Ultimate, and BTSport.com in the UK.