RB Leipzig vs Man City injury news - six ruled out for Champions League clash

Manchester City head to Germany without three key first-team players, as the Blues begin yet another knockout campaign in the Champions League.

This is the 10th season in a row City have made it to at least the last-16 of the competition, with Pep Guardiola’s side among the favourites to lift the trophy. It’s RB Leipzig who they face in the first leg on Wednesday, before the reverse meeting at the Etihad on 14 March.

But the Premier League champions will be without Aymeric Laporte and Kevin De Bruyne for the clash at the Red Bull Arena, with neither named in the travelling squad. The pair, who both featured in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest, also missed the open pre-match training session on Tuesday and Guardiola said in his pre-match press conference that both are suffering with illness.

“Kevin and Laporte [are missing through] illness,” he said. “They are not ready for tomorrow. It is what it is. During the season, unfortunately sometimes that happens.

“He [De Bruyne] didn’t feel good right after the game against Nottingham. Yesterday, Aymer didn’t feel well. Other players are going to play. That happens sometimes.”

Meanwhile, John Stones remains out with a hamstring issue and hasn’t played since the end of January. The absence of Laporte and Stones leaves Guardiola with just three fit centre-backs to choose from: Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji.

As for Leipzig, Peter Gulacsi, Dani Olmo and Abdou Diallo are long-term absentees and won’t be involved on Wednesday. However, manager Marco Rose was boosted by the returns of Christopher Nkunku and Konrad Laimer at the weekend.

The latter has overcome a recent knock and came off the bench in 3-0 victory over Wolfsbury on Saturday. Nkunku also was introduced for the final 21 minutes in the Bundesliga game, his first appearance since November due to a knee issue that prevented him making France’s World Cup squad.

Ruled out: Gulacsi, Olmo, Diallo (Leipzig); Laporte, Stones, De Bruyne (City)