Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!
Pep Guardiola, not in the mood for nonsense, speaks to BT. “They made a step forward, pressed higher … after the goal we conceded, we came back and had a good last 20 minutes … we had good chances in both halves, and got a result so we decide in Manchester … I am happy for all the game.”
Then a testy exchange with interviewer Matt Smith, who replies: “Even though they came into it in the second half?”
“What do you expect? We play a friendly game here? How many games have you seen from Leipzig?”
“Yes, they’re a good team.”
“So come on! Do you expect us to come here and win 0-5? It is not a reality. It’s a competition where many good teams in the group stage are out. It is difficult. Four games in ten days, away all of those games, all the travel, and people expect? We are a good team that continue to do many things. If people expect us to come here and win 0-4, I’m sorry, we’re not able to do this.”
Jonathan Liew was at the Red Bull Arena tonight, and his verdict is in. Pep Guardiola’s take to come soon.
Pep gathers a few of his men on the pitch and gives them … what? A tactical debrief? A passionate bollocking? It’s not clear, but he doesn’t look particularly happy and Haaland for one looks a bit miffed himself. Ever the perfectionist, Pep’s sure to see this as a missed opportunity, given how dominant his team were in the first half. His mood might not improve when he sees replays of that late, late handball shout, either! BT have just spun the film, and amid the hubbub, Henrichs sticks out two arms, almost bumping the ball in the volleyball style. No set or spike, to be fair. Not sure why VAR didn’t have a closer look at that, but then there’s no second-guessing referees these days. Leipzig might have got away with one there.
FULL TIME: RB Leipzig 1-1 Manchester City
The whistle goes and a draw seems about the right result. City were the better team in the first, Leipzig in the second. Off to the Etihad in three weeks’ time!
90 min +3: … play it short. The ball’s eventually swung into the mixer. A minor melee. City claim a handball. Neither referee nor VAR is interested. Nkunku attempts to counter but skitters down a cul-de-sac. And that is going to be that.
90 min +2: One last chance for City, as Mahrez’s presence forces Laimer into the concession of a corner down the left. City load the box, and …
90 min +1: Gvardiol tries to send Werner into space down the left but clanks the ball carelessly out of play for a throw. When he attempts a pass, he really attempts it.
90 min: Ah, seems the referee did remember his cards after all. Henrichs comes through the back of Gundogan, and into the book he goes. There will be a minimum of two added minutes.
89 min: Raum comes on for Halstenberg.
87 min: City seem to have subdued Leipzig now. The hosts were well up for a winner, but now seem more determined not to ship a late sickener. City haven’t given up the ghost, though, and are on the front foot.
85 min: A cross slung into the City box from the left. Henrichs can’t win a header at the far stick. City attempt to break. Poulsen cynically clips Grealish and there goes that dream. No booking, though. This referee is one laid-back dude all right.
84 min: Gvardiol tries to release Poulsen down the middle but over-bloots. The ball flies all the way through to Ederson. A more considered pass might have caused City some bother.
82 min: Haidara and Poulsen come on for Andre Silva and Schlager.
81 min: Mahrez catches Nkunku with a stud on the ankle. The referee, who has admittedly been laissez faire all evening, doesn’t do anything. It was mistimed rather than malicious, and probably not even worthy of a yellow card, but not even a free kick? Nkunku isn’t happy.
Updated
79 min: Grealish makes good down the left and crosses low, but Bernardo Silva can’t get a shot away. Meanwhile here’s a health warning from the Government Justin Kavanagh: “Students taking exams and Sunday footballers take note: this Red Bull stuff takes at least 45 minutes to kick in.”
77 min: City slow things down with some of their sterile possession in the middle of the park. Smart game management by the English champions.
76 min: This game is very open now. Leipzig are possibly of a mind that, in all probability, they need to win this leg if they’re to make it through. So they’re going for that precious second goal. Now it’s City who are sitting back and waiting to pounce on the counter.
74 min: City respond well to conceding the equaliser, though. Gundogan meets a low left-wing cross on the edge of the Leipzig D, opens his body, and steers powerfully towards the bottom right. Blaswich sticks out a strong arm to save, pushing the ball away from danger just enough so Haaland can’t follow in at the right-hand post.
72 min: That’s no more than Leipzig deserve. They must wish this version of themselves had turned up for the first half.
Updated
GOAL! Leipzig 1-1 Manchester City (Gvardiol 70)
Szoboszlai crosses from the right. Walker, under no pressure, concedes a corner. It’s sent in from the left. It’s pulled back to Szoboszlai who arrows a rising shot towards the top left. Ederson tips it around the post spectacularly. Another corner comes in … and City’s defence is all over the show! The ball loops over Ederson, Dias and Ake, and Gvardiol is able to head home from a couple of yards! It had been coming!
Updated
68 min: It’s been all Leipzig for a while, so here comes Haaland in an attempt to do something about it. He tears after a long pass and burns his way past Gvardiol down the inside right. He enters the box but drags an uncharacteristically weak effort across goal and wide left.
67 min: Werner nearly releases Andre Silva into the City box with a sliderule pass down the inside-left channel. City swarm and clear. Leipzig continue to press.
66 min: Leipzig need a goal, so he had to come on at some time: here’s their star man Nkunku, replacing Forsberg. Nkunku, you’ll recall, hit a hat-trick at the Etihad last season. He’s got 17 goals already this season, despite missing a chunk of it through injury.
64 min: Forsberg drives down the middle and slips the ball across to Henrichs on the right. Henrichs crosses low. Ake deflects away from danger. Henrichs has been a major feature of this game since coming on at the break.
63 min: Andre Silva hipshakes down the inside-left channel, bursts into the box, and attempts to dink elegantly over Ederson from a tight angle. The keeper makes himself big to save well. Leipzig getting closer.
Updated
62 min: Henrichs crosses from the right. Too high. Halstenberg returns it into the City box from the left. There’s nobody there. But this continues to be promising for Leipzig, who have been a different team since the restart.
60 min: Haaland makes a couple of runs down the channels. He’s not spotted by his team-mates. But the big man keeps on keepin’ on.
Updated
58 min: That’s got the crowd going as well, so City take the sting out of the game with some sterile domination in the middle of the park. Eventually they creep upfield, Grealish and Bernardo Silva working down the left. Haaland screams for the ball in the middle but doesn’t get it.
56 min: Leipzig have woken up all right. Werner skedaddles down the left and cuts back from the byline. Ederson parries at his near post, batting the ball away from the lurking Forsberg. For the first time this evening, City are being asked a few questions.
55 min: Leipzig create the chance of the match so far. Schlager sashays in from the left and rolls infield for Szoboszlai, who spots Henrichs in acres to his right. He rolls a diagonal pass towards Henrichs, who enters the box one on one with Ederson! He sends his shot across the City keeper … and inches wide of the bottom-left corner. So close to an equaliser!
Updated
53 min: A cross sent into the City box from the left. New man Henrichs wins a header, but can only send it harmlessly over the bar from 12 yards. Ederson had it covered.
52 min: Ederson launches long. Haaland rises high to flick on a header for Mahrez, who lays off to Bernardo Silva. He can’t worm his way into the box from the right flank, and the move breaks down. Still, it nearly came off. Pep goes Reep.
50 min: Gundogan bursts down the left, benefitting from Ake’s hassling of Halstenberg. He reaches the byline and pulls back for Mahrez, whose shot can’t make its way through a thicket of players in the six-yard box. Leipzig clear their lines.
49 min: Gvardiol nixes that early second-half momentum by flaying a dismal pass out of play under no pressure whatsoever.
48 min: Leipzig have clearly been given the what-for by coach Marco Rose. They’re snapping into challenges now, getting right up in Manchester City’s grille. Schlager rolls a pass down the left for Halstenberg, who shuttles forward to Werner. The former Chelsea man enters the box but can’t get a shot away. Still, that’s a lot better from the hosts, who have finally turned up.
46 min: An early second-half touch for Haaland. That’s only his eighth of the evening so far. Not ideal, but we know how this kind of thing so often ends.
Leipzig get the second half underway. They’ve replaced Klostermann with Henrichs. “I’m no tactical genius but it will take a drastic change in approach by Leipzig to turn this around. Gatorade. Lucozade. Carabao. Something! Anything!” Peter Oh, ladies and gentlemen. He’s here all week. Try the caffeine, taurine, sucrose and glucose in a solution of carbonated water, baking soda and magnesium carbonate.
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HALF TIME: RB Leipzig 0-1 Manchester City
The scoreline flatters the hosts. City have played very well; Red Bull by contrast have misplaced their wings. They’ll need to find them for the second half quicksmart.
Updated
45 min +1: Leipzig finally put Ederson to work! Werner dribbles into the City box from the left, sizes up the scene, then curls harmlessly towards the bottom right. At least it’s kept Ederson’s hands warm. Ah, it would have been offside anyway. Still, that’s better than nothing, Leipzig clearing a low bar.
45 min: There will be one minute of added time. “Leipzig are aimless,” writes Ahmed Hassen Jogee. “Man City are playing home away from home and are dominating. Man City and Real Madrid are firm favourites to reach the final.”
44 min: Walker strolls past Andre Silva, who throws both arms over the City man’s shoulder and drags him down. A free kick, but once again the referee isn’t minded to flash a yellow card. In this regard, Leipzig have probably used up their luck now.
42 min: Grealish is hauled back by Klostermann. No punishment for the player, and Grealish is getting a little bit irritated at being constantly fouled. Small mercies, but at least if nothing else, he’s used to such treatment and so shouldn’t get too rattled.
40 min: Halstenberg hares down the left. He’s only got Werner in the box, and sends in a cross about 20 feet over his head. A few moans from the home support now, who aren’t getting much bang for their buck tonight.
39 min: “Jack is having a great game!” observes Nora Mulcahy. Indeed he is, and his determined dribble down the left wins another City corner. Rodri meets it again, sending another header wide right.
Updated
38 min: Leipzig’s no-show is costing them eyeballs all over the world. The punters are upping sticks! “I’ll keep following your updates,” promises Joe Pearson of Indianapolis, “but I’m switching to Inter vs Porto, where presumably both teams will actually be playing.”
36 min: Bernardo Silva bustles with determination down the right. He’s knocked to the floor but bounces straight back up, Denis Law style, and slides a pass across the front of the box to Grealish, who takes a touch inside before lashing over the bar. City are utterly dominant. “Mahrez is quite an astonishing player and arguably a tad underrated,” argues Colum Fordham, who can also speak for this MBM. “Second best finisher after Haaland can’t be bad for a winger. He must be one of the gifted left-footed players in modern football.”
Updated
34 min: It’s still not 100 percent clear, but replays of the goal suggest Gundogan helped on Grealish’s through ball to Mahrez by flicking it cutely through Gvardiol’s legs. It all happened in a tight space on the edge of the D. Whatever, it was a lovely, instinctive, incisive move.
32 min: Grealish comes clattering in on Klostermann, but his attempt to steal the ball only leads to his hurting himself. Just a sore one on impact, he’s up again quickly enough.
30 min: Walker wins a corner down the right. Mahrez swings it in deep. Rodri wins a header easily on the left-hand edge of the six-yard box and flashes the ball across the face of goal. Haaland can’t meet it at the right-hand post and the ball trundles out for a goal kick. So close to a quickfire second.
29 min: That’s no more than City deserve. They’ve been excellent from the get-go, with the only caveat being Leipzig have been so timid, unambitious and broadly awful.
GOAL! Leipzig 0-1 Manchester City (Mahrez 27)
This had been coming all right. Schlager’s poor pass out from the back is intercepted by Grealish, who takes a step into the middle from the left before slipping Mahrez clear through the middle. Mahrez gives Blaswich the eyes and lashes a low drive into the bottom right. Simple as that!
Updated
25 min: A long Rodri pass down the inside-right channel nearly releases Mahrez. Well, it actually does release him, but the flag goes up for offside, Mahrez having needlessly gone too early. Meanwhile here’s Murphy Mediji: “Unsure if this has already been mentioned, but... Joško is a pet name for Josip, Pep is again Josep and Gvardiol is basically the same surname, Guardiola.”
24 min: Walker and Gundogan complete a long-distance one-two down the right. The former tears clear, reaches the byline … and sends in a cross that values hope over accuracy. Leipzig clear their lines easily enough.
22 min: City continue to hog the ball. This is absurdly one-sided in terms of possession and territory … and yet Blaswich hasn’t been put to serious work yet.
20 min: Walker, in space on the right, demands the ball off Dias, playing quarterback. Dias doesn’t spot him, which is just as well as he won’t have noticed a fuming Walker subsequently waving his arms around in anger and giving him trenchant advice while doing so.
18 min: Halstenberg’s poor clearance is intercepted by Mahrez on the slide. Bernardo Silva picks up possession and rolls infield from the right to Rodri, who whips an excitable shot miles wide and high.
17 min: … but it’s Mahrez who takes, aiming a curler towards the top left but only managing to slap the ball straight into the wall. Not his best.
16 min: Grealish, in flight and spectacularly so, is skittled over by Schlager just in front of the City D. Gundogan grabs the ball, his eyes lit up.
14 min: Leipzig finally put something together in attack. Klostermann curls in from the right and nearly lands the cross on the head of Andre Silva, who is all alone on the penalty spot. But the cross is a couple of inches too high, and the flag goes up for offside anyway.
Updated
13 min: Walker drives down the right and wins a corner off Halstenberg, the ball nearly sailing in an absurd arc over Blaswich from a tight angle. The ball only just clears the bar. Then from the corner, Dias slaps a header straight at the keeper, who claims easily.
Updated
12 min: This is all City. Grealish dribbles down the left. Walker and Mahrez probe down the right. Leipzig can’t get a sniff. The home fans nevertheless continue to give it plenty. The sweet sounds of midweek European soccer!
10 min: Grealish is clipped by Laimer out on the left. A free kick. Everyone lines up in front of the Red Bull box. Akanji’s delivery is no good, and for a second it looks as though Forsberg will latch onto a long hoofed clearance, but last man Dias puts a stop to his gallop with a no-nonsense blooter back upfield.
Updated
8 min: Gundogan, Walker and Mahrez combine crisply down the right. Gundogan bursts into the box but can’t beat the first man with his low cross. City are probing with purpose here.
6 min: Gundogan, standing in the centre circle, volleys a glorious first-time pass down the left for Grealish, who enters the box and looks for Mahrez. At which point the move breaks down, but all very pleasing on the eye nevertheless.
Updated
4 min: Blaswich launches long down the inside-right channel. Silva chases after the ball. He takes up possession but can’t get past Ake, who forces him to check his run. Fine defending, though for a nanosecond there, City looked a little light at the back.
2 min: Leipzig have barely touched the ball, happy to sit back and let City stroke it around the middle of the park, waiting for the chance to counter. The pattern of the game set early?
City get the ball rolling. Walker is allowed far too much time and space down the right, making good ground and nearly finding Haaland in space on the edge of the box with his cross. It’s intercepted and the hosts clear. A positive start by the visitors.
The teams are out! Leipzig in their home kit of white, red squiggles and fizzy bevvy logo, City in second-choice Hacienda-infused black with red diagonals. A fine atmosphere at the Zentralstadion. “Gotta ask - what’s the story with the pennants nowadays?” begins De Feu, veering dangerously close to airplane peanuts territory. “Do clubs take on a store of them every season? What do they do with them? What’s the point anymore now the internet records everything?” Dealing with your questions seriatim: don’t know; no idea; don’t know; they’re just nice to swap and keep, I guess, though I’m also aware that younger generations aren’t into actual things any more, so there’s probably no point asking this confused and scared old man. We’ll be off in a minute!
Pep Guardiola speaks to TNT Sport BT Sport. “This 11 are going to try to do a good game and get a good result for the second leg … it’s a magnificent stadium … always we play a back four, but different players … we decided to play in this line-up, nothing special … if we let them run it will be a fast game … I spent time in Germany, and if you lose balls in certain positions and you are not well prepared for their transitions, they are unstoppable.”
Pennant watch. Here’s what İlkay Gündoğan will be handing over to his opposite number Willi Orbán tonight. Some high-end embossing on display there, as plush as they come. You could probably soak up a whole spilt can of taurine-based Cardiac Compromiser using that.
How the teams got here. Leipzig only secured their place in the knockouts with a 4-0 win at Shakhtar Donetsk on matchday six. Not a bad way to bounce back after Shakhtar beat them 4-1 in Germany on the opening night.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Real Madrid | 6 | 9 | 13 |
| 2 | RB Leipzig | 6 | 4 | 12 |
| 3 | Shakhtar Donetsk | 6 | -2 | 6 |
| 4 | Celtic | 6 | -11 | 2 |
City meanwhile made a tough group look easy. Erling Haaland’s late winner against Borussia Dortmund just had to be.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man City | 6 | 12 | 14 |
| 2 | Borussia Dortmund | 6 | 5 | 9 |
| 3 | Sevilla | 6 | -6 | 5 |
| 4 | FC Copenhagen | 6 | -11 | 3 |
Fancy reliving what happened when the teams met in this competition last season? Course you do. Here’s how the nine-goal thriller at the Etihad unfolded …
… and this is the way the reverse fixture went.
RB Leipzig’s star forward Christopher Nkunku is only recently back from injury so starts on the bench. Timo Werner, who won this competition with Chelsea in 2021, leads the line.
Manchester City make three changes to the starting XI selected for the 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest. Nathan Ake, Manuel Akanji and Riyad Mahrez replace Phil Foden, who drops to the bench, and Aymeric Laporte and Kevin de Bruyne, both ill and tucked up at home.
The teams
RB Leipzig: Blaswich, Klostermann, Orban, Gvardiol, Halstenberg, Laimer, Schlager, Werner, Szoboszlai, Forsberg, Silva.
Subs: Nyland, Nickisch, Simakan, Haidara, Poulsen, Nkunku, Raum, Henrichs, Kampl.
Manchester City: Ederson, Walker, Akanji, Dias, Ake, Rodrigo, Gundogan, Silva, Mahrez, Grealish, Haaland.
Subs: Ortega Moreno, Carson, Phillips, Alvarez, Gomez, Perrone, Foden, Charles, Palmer, Lewis, Robertson.
Referee: Serdar Gözübüyük (Netherlands).
Our XI to face @ManCity! 📋
— RB Leipzig English (@RBLeipzig_EN) February 22, 2023
#RBLMCI pic.twitter.com/EAbqdf7YKJ
TEAM NEWS 🚨
— Manchester City (@ManCity) February 22, 2023
XI | Ederson, Walker, Akanji, Dias, Ake, Rodrigo, Gundogan (C), Bernardo, Mahrez, Grealish, Haaland
SUBS | Ortega Moreno, Carson, Phillips, Alvarez, Gomez, Perrone, Foden, Charles, Palmer, Lewis, Robertson#ManCity pic.twitter.com/8dPv7mxJ4G
Updated
Preamble
Clubs from the Premier League are currently zero for three in this season’s Champions League last 16 first legs. AC Milan, Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid have already beaten Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Liverpool respectively; now Manchester City see if they can do a little better as they travel to Germany tonight.
City are favourites to make it through to the quarter-finals. They strolled through the group stage, while their round-of-16 opponents Leipzig only clinched knockout qualification on matchday six. But consistency has been elusive of late – easy wins over Aston Villa and Arsenal have been bookended by defeat at Tottenham and a plethora of chances missed in a draw with Nottingham Forest – and City lost 2-1 here in Leipzig in the groups last season.
On the other hand, Leipzig aren’t in the richest vein of form themselves. having taken just four points from the last nine available in the Bundesliga. And they’ll need to hang on in there tonight, because when they travelled to Manchester for the reverse group fixture last season, they were skelped 6-3. Much may depend on the performances of in-demand Croatia defender Josko Gvardiol and former Chelsea striker Timo Werner, and whether they’ll be able to field Christopher Nkunku, who scored a hat-trick at the Etihad in that aforementioned nine-goal thriller.
Kick off is at 8pm GMT, 9pm local. It’s on!
