MCI (Manchester City) vs RBL (RB Leipzig) Match Prediction
UEFA Champions League
Etihad Stadium
The equation of this group is more or less settled. Both City and Leipzig are sure to qualify for the group. The only question remains who will top the group? City at the moment does have a three-point lead over Leipzig in 1st place so if Leipzig wants to top the group, they will have to beat City on Tuesday and win their last game against Young Boys by a higher margin than City. The defending champions on the other hand just need one win from two games to solidify their grip on the top spot.
Manchester City in their last group game in the Champions League faced off against Young Boys at the Etihad Stadium. City had a chance to take the lead in the 22nd minute after Rico Lewis was brought down by Lauper in the penalty box. Haaland stepped up from the spot to score City’s first goal of the evening. Pep Guardiola’s men doubled the lead in the 1st minute of added time before half time through Phil Foden.
Jack Grealish did very well to find Foden with a brilliant diagonal ball that the no 47 galloped onto, beating a Young Boys defender to go one-on-one with the goalkeeper and slot it past him into goal. Erling Haaland got back onto the scoresheet this time with a thunderous strike from outside the box. A rare goal from the Norwegian being outside the penalty area.
RB Leipzig in their last game travelled to Serbia to face Red Star Belgrade. Teen sensation Xavi Simons gave the visitors the lead in the 8th minute with a lovely move to switch inside from the left wing onto his right foot to finesse the ball around the goalkeeper to give Leipzig the lead. Leipzig doubled their lead after many missed chances through Lois Openda.
The striker on the counter was found by Schlager who cut onto his right foot from the left wing once again and fizzed a low drilled shot in the bottom right corner. The German side was looking good enough to hold their two-goal lead until the end but Belgrade came back into the game through a Benjamin Henrichs own goal. It was a nervy few minutes in the end for Leipzig but they held on to claim all three points.
Facts:
- RB Leipzig have a horrid record when they play English teams in England. Leipzig have been pumped in their last 4 away games in England having lost each game and conceding a total of 20 goals in those games. Leipzig managed to score just 3 goals in the 4 games. Their last win came in 2020 where they beat Spurs 1-0 at home.
- These two sides met at this same stadium this year in March where City ended up beating them 7-0. This scoreline is Pep Guardiola’s biggest win margin in the history of the Champions League. He has achieved three 7-0 wins in Europe.
- Manchester City are a force of nature when it comes to playing at the Etihad Stadium. They have not lost a single game at home in 17 fixtures winning 12 and drawing 5 of those games.
- RB Leipzig go into this game on the back of two away wins in their group this season against Belgrade and Young Boys. If they beat City, it would be three consecutive wins and equal their record once again of most consecutive wins on the road.
Manchester City vs RB Leipzig Chance of Winning
The recent head-to-head record between these two sides favours the team from England just marginally. In the last 5 encounters between these two teams in Europe, Manchester City has won on 3 occasions, 1 game ended in a draw and RB Leipzig has won just once.
RB Leipzig will go into this with the hope of seeing the game against Liverpool that Manchester City can get at. Manchester City were the team with the better chances but Liverpool staying in the game and hanging on showed that City will present you a chance to get back into the game.
Leipzig will have to be aware of that fact and will need to be clinical when those few chances come. The main reason RB Leipzig has a poor chance against City is their away form currently. Leipzig have lost two consecutive games away from home in the League coming into this game. And that is not the form that you want to have heading into the Champions Den.
Manchester City are brilliant at home and we expect them to pull out their frustrations of the Liverpool game on RB Leipzig. Pep Guardiola’s men go into this game hands down with a higher chance of winning.
Manchester City vs RB Leipzig Predictions and Betting Tips
According to the oddsmakers, Manchester City goes into this game as easy odds-on favourites to beat RB Leipzig on Tuesday at the Etihad Stadium in the Champions League. Both these teams are in a comfortable spot to get qualification for the round of 16 in the Champions League.
Both these teams have hands down been the best in the group having already secured their qualification by ousting the other two teams in the group. Manchester City so far have cruised in this relatively easy group but RB Leipzig will want to keep their hopes of bettering the defending champions alive.
In terms of their goal-scoring abilities, Manchester City have been rampant at home in the Champions League campaign this season. The Citizens of Manchester average 3.00 goals a game this season in Europe at the Etihad. Leipzig on the contrary has conceded 1.40 goals on an average away from Germany this season in Europe. We easily expect Pep Guardiola and his team to score more than 2.5 goals in this game. RB Leipzig’s defence is not very bad but most teams with the best defences can be made to look bad by City at the Etihad Stadium.
In terms of the defence for City, we do expect them to concede in this game against RB Leipzig. City are rarely managing to keep clean sheets this season. Even in the UCL, they average 0.75 goals conceded a game. Leipzig’s attack is the best of all of the teams in the group and we do expect them to nick a goal in this game. RB Leipzig have also failed to score in just 17% of their away games this season showing how good they can be in attack.
In terms of possession City will be expected to have most of the ball. In Europe, they have averaged 62% of the ball at home. Leipzig also are a team that likes to hold on to the ball averaging 58% possession on an average away from home. It is really hard to outwit Pep Guardiola in a possession battle hence we believe City will have more than 60% possession especially with the game being at home.
In terms of scoring, Erling Haaland will once again go as favourites to score against Leipzig at the Etihad Stadium. Haaland was on target in his last game against Liverpool as well and he became the fastest player to get to 50 goals in Premier League history. Haaland is soon on the path to being labelled as a definition for goals. Another player to back to get higher odds and more returns could be Julian Alvarez. The Argentinian has been the 2nd top scorer for City and could be an option to back in this game.
In terms of backing a player to score for RB Leipzig, we pick Xavi Simons. The youngster who is on loan from Paris Saint Germain is excelling in the Bundesliga. Simons has scored 2 goals in his last 2 games in the Champions League and if he finds the net against City on Tuesday then will become the youngest Dutch player to score in three consecutive UCL games since Patrick Kluivert in 1995. Other options to back for Leipzig include Openda and Poulsen.
Final Prediction: Manchester City to beat RB Leipzig
Manchester City Player List
Goalkeepers: Scott Carson, Ederson, Stefan Ortega Moreno
Defenders: Manuel Akanji, Nathan Ake, Ruben Dias, Sergio Gomez, Rico Lewis, John Stones, Kyle Walker, Josko Gvardiol
Midfielders: Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Mateo Kovacic, Rodrigo, Matheus Nunes, Maximo Perrone, Kalvin Phillips, Bernardo Silva
Attackers: Erling Haaland, Julian Alvarez, Jeremy Doku
Manchester City Playing XI
|
Player |
Role |
|
Ederson |
Goalkeeper |
|
Josko Gvardiol |
Defender |
|
Ruben Dias |
Defender |
|
Manuel Akanji |
Defender |
|
Kyle Walker |
Defender |
|
Rodrigo |
Midfielder |
|
Bernardo Silva |
Midfielder |
|
Phil Foden |
Midfielder |
|
Julian Alvarez |
Attacker |
|
Erling Haaland |
Attacker |
|
Jeremy Doku |
Attacker |
Manchester City Team Form(Last five games): D, D, W, W, W
RB Leipzig Player List
Goalkeepers: Peter Gulacsi, Janis Blaswich, Leopold Zingerle, Timo Schlieck
Defenders: Mohamed Simakan, Christopher Lenz, Willi Orban, El Chadaille Bitshiabu, Lukas Klostermann, Castello Lukeba, Tim Kohler, Benjamin Henrichs
Midfielders: Amadou Haidara, Emil Forsberg, Nicolas Seiwald, Cristoph Baumgartner, Fabio Carvalho, Xavi Simmons, David Raum, Xaver Schlager, Ilaix Moriba, Kevin Kampl
Attackers: Dani Olmo, Yussuf Poulsen, Timo Werner, Lois Openda, Benjamin Sesko
RB Leipzig Playing XI
|
Player |
Role |
|
Janis Blaswich |
Goalkeeper |
|
Benjamin Henrichs |
Defender |
|
Mohamed Simakan |
Defender |
|
Castello Lukeba |
Defender |
|
David Raum |
Defender |
|
Amadou Haidara |
Midfielder |
|
Xaver Schlager |
Midfielder |
|
Christoph Baumgartner |
Midfielder |
|
Xavi Simons |
Attacker |
|
Yussuf Poulsen |
Attacker |
|
Lois Openda |
Attacker |
RB Leipzig Team Form(Last five-games): L, W, L, W, W
Manchester City vs RB Leipzig Head-To-Head
Matches Played:5
Manchester City wins:3
Liverpool wins:1
Matches are drawn:1
Manchester City vs RB Leipzig Betting Odds
Manchester City to win the match (PARIMATCH): 1.34.
RB Leipzig to win the match (PARIMATCH): 8.50.
Match to end in a draw (PARIMATCH): 5.80.
The betting odds have been calculated based on team performances in previous matches, player records etc. Odds are subject to change.
Our Prediction
Favorites to win
Manchester City
Both of these teams do not have much to play for except for topping the group. RB Leipzig will want to finish top of the group which could potentially hand them an easier opponent in the round of 16. Leipzig has also not been the best of sides in the Bundesliga languishing in 5th place. They were also beaten by Wolfsburg away over the weekend.
City has way too much ammunition in their squad to deal with Leipzig and we expect them to win this game and head into the round of 16 as group winners. Our prediction in this game is a 4-1 Manchester City win. We believe City could score a lot of goals in this game.
Parimatch