Manchester City kick-start their Champions League knockout campaign with a trip to Germany where they will face RB Leipzig in the first leg of their last-16 tie on Wednesday night.

The Citizens will be seeking revenge at the Red Bull Arena after losing their previous visit 2-1 in the group stage of last season’s competition.

Qualifying from the Champions League group stage seemed a tall order for Leipzig earlier this season after losing their first two matches against Shakhtar Donetsk and Real Madrid, but the German outfit bounced back to win their remaining four games – including an impressive 3-2 home victory over Los Blancos – and qualify as runners-up of Group F.

Those four wins took place during an impressive 18-game unbeaten run across all competitions between October 1 and February 11, which was eventually brought to an end courtesy of a 2-1 home loss against Union Berlin in the Bundesliga.

RB Leipzig headed into February full of confidence after stringing together an impressive run of 18 competitive unbeaten matches (W14, D4) prior to their 2-1 loss to Union Berlin a little over a week ago.

Marco Rose’s team bounced back last weekend with a 3-0 win away to Wolfsburg and will hope that result can spur them on to seal a repeat of last season’s 2-1 UEFA Champions League (UCL) success here against Manchester City.

The German side’s success over City in that group stage tie handed them their fourth European success against a Premier League side (L4), with Rose’s men interestingly coming out on top in all three meetings to have taken place in Leipzig.

That should boost Leipzig’s confidence somewhat, as should the fact they’ve already beaten the champions of Scotland (Celtic) and Spain (Real Madrid) at home in this season’s competition.

Overall, City’s UCL record on the road is one to be admired, losing just five of their last 26 European away games (W15, D6). Their form away from the Etihad in recent weeks though does raise a few eyebrows and potentially hints at an upset, with the weekend’s draw against Forest leaving City with just one win from their last five competitive away matches (D1, L3).

Players to watch: Leipzig forward and former Chelsea star Timo Werner has registered two career assists against City, and intriguingly five of his six personal H2H meetings have been settled by a single-goal margin (W3, L3). Erling Haaland has scored six career goals against RB Leipzig, his joint most against one single opponent.

Hot streak: Leipzig have failed to score in each of their last three knockout stage UCL matches (L3).

Those four wins took place during an impressive 18-game unbeaten run across all competitions between October 1 and February 11, which was eventually brought to an end courtesy of a 2-1 home loss against Union Berlin in the Bundesliga.

RB Leipzig Champions League form:

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RB Leipzig form (all competitions):

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Manchester City Champions League form:

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Manchester City form (all competitions):

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RB Leipzig possible starting lineup:

Blaswich; Klostermann, Orban, Gvardiol, Raum; Schlager, Laimer; Szoboszlai, Forsberg, Werner; Silva

Manchester City possible starting lineup:

Ederson; Walker, Akanji, Ake; Rodri, Bernardo; Mahrez, Gundogan, Foden, Grealish; Haaland

Excluding the away triumph over Arsenal, Man City have been far from their best on the road in recent weeks, and another challenging encounter could be in store on Wednesday as Leipzig have previously shown their threat going forward against the Citizens.

However, City tend to respond well from disappointing results and we expect Guardiola’s key men to make the difference in a closely-fought contest in Germany.