RB Leipzig vs Man City stops looking like a routine Champions League away trip the moment you see the numbers from the Red Bull Arena this season: 19 goals scored and not one conceded.
That is five wins from five home games in the Bundesliga and Champions League for RB Leipzig, and the man who has built it is Martín Demichelis, a former City defender who won the Premier League with the club in 2013/14.
Man City turn up with two straight league defeats behind them and no clean sheet in six games. Enzo Maresca has already been asked plenty about the £325m midfield that lasted 55 minutes against Brighton.
Wednesday poses a different question. Can his side crack a defence nobody has got past on this ground all season, without opening up at the other end?
When is RB Leipzig vs Man City?
Date: Wednesday 4 November 2026
Time: 8pm GMT (9pm in Leipzig)
Venue: Red Bull Arena, Leipzig
Competition: Champions League league phase, matchday 4
Who could be missing on Wednesday?
RB Leipzig team news
Maxime Estève, Assan Ouédraogo and Marc Guiu all missed the win at Schalke on 31 October, and we have left all three out of our predicted lineup. Estève took a knock against Elversberg and was making progress before that game, though Demichelis said then: “We’re not taking any risks.” Ouédraogo was out with a capsule injury in his right shoulder and Guiu with a muscle problem.
The better news is further forward. Christopher Nkunku returned to team training on 30 October after nine days out with an adductor problem, and Christoph Baumgartner is back after around four and a half months out. Demichelis was planning to use both from the bench at Schalke and doesn’t like starting players who have not trained every day, so we expect both to begin on the bench again.
Man City team news
We expect Antoine Semenyo to be City’s only absentee. He was given an eight-week timeline after hurting his knee against Ipswich and will not be back until December. Maresca said on 30 October that everyone else was available, and we have seen no new injury reported since the Brighton game.
That leaves real choices. Marc Guéhi, Rico Lewis and Mateo Kovačić all sat unused against Brighton, and Rayan Cherki and Phil Foden only came off the bench. City are at Nottingham Forest three days later, so the changes may not stop at one or two.
Leipzig vs City: why the Red Bull Arena is a different world
You won’t see many home and away splits as strange as this one. Here is Leipzig’s league and Champions League season so far, with their score first:
| At the Red Bull Arena | Away from home |
|---|---|
| Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-0 | Werder Bremen 1-3 |
| Hamburg 5-0 | Como 1-4 |
| Eintracht Frankfurt 6-0 | Bayer Leverkusen 0-2 |
| PSV Eindhoven 1-0 | Bayern Munich 1-6 |
| Elversberg 4-0 | Real Madrid 1-4 |
| Schalke 2-0 | |
| Scored 19, conceded 0 | Scored 6, conceded 19 |
Yes, Leipzig also won away in the German Cup, at Eintracht Trier and Rot-Weiss Essen, and yes, Schalke was a first away league win of the season. It still leaves a side who have shipped four at Como and Real Madrid and six at Bayern, and who then come home and look unbreakable.
Even the players were counting. “Whether we’ve beaten the curse, we’ll see at the next away game,” captain David Raum said after Schalke, admitting the squad had all looked up the away table on their phones. The trouble for City is that Wednesday isn’t an away game.
There is a caveat, and it’s a big one. Gladbach, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Elversberg are not City, and the only European visitor so far, PSV, lost by a single goal. Leipzig have not faced anyone of this level on their own pitch yet, which is why nobody should treat 19-0 as proof of anything more than a very confident team.
Can City break a wall nobody has breached?
The danger for Maresca is how Leipzig won at Schalke. Demichelis set up in a 4-5-1, took 17 shots to six, and Rômulo’s second came straight from a counter started by Ridle Baku’s long pass and finished after a flick from Antonio Nusa. Demichelis called it “our best away game” without the ball, and now they get back in front of their own fans.
That is a nasty match-up for a City side who keep committing bodies forward. They had 21 shots against Brighton and still lost, and the errors at the back have not stopped since Maresca had to back Guéhi. Twelve goals conceded in six games tells you a counter-attacking side will fancy it.
There is plenty at stake, too. City are on six points from three games and just outside the top eight going into this round, and they still have Barcelona away and Napoli and Sporting at home to come. Leipzig have three points and sit outside the top 24, with a goal difference of -5 after those two heavy away defeats. A win would change their whole league phase.
History is on City’s side. They have won four of the six meetings, have scored in all six, and last came here in October 2023 and won 3-1. Leipzig’s only win came at this ground in December 2021, 2-1, and the other trip, in February 2023, finished 1-1.
Who decides this one?
Rômulo
Four Bundesliga goals in six games this season, and he was everywhere at Schalke: he won the penalty for the opener, had another goal chalked off and then scored the second on 78 minutes. City’s centre-backs will need to be sharp.
Christoph Baumgartner
Since coming back he has an assist against Real Madrid, a goal against Elversberg and two late goals that turned the cup tie at Essen. Whether he starts or not, he is the man we would least like to see warming up with 25 minutes left.
Elliot Anderson
City’s best player against Brighton by a distance, in and out of possession. He passed on Rúben Dias’s dressing-room message afterwards: “Rúben just said in there that we win together and we lose together and he’s absolutely right. We’ve got to improve together as well and we’ll look to do that over the next few days and bounce back in the Champions League.”
Erling Haaland
Nine Premier League goals this season, but he barely got involved against Brighton. Leipzig will not need reminding what he can do to them: he scored five in the 7-0 at the Etihad in March 2023.
Our call: City by a goal, and the clean sheet run ends
We think that home clean sheet run ends here. City have scored in every meeting between these sides and Maresca still has more attacking quality on his bench than most teams start with. We think Leipzig score too, because City have given nobody much reason to think otherwise. Prediction: RB Leipzig 1-2 Man City. It won’t be comfortable. Maresca said after Brighton that “we just need to try to improve things, move on and try to win games as soon as possible.” This would be a good place to start.
RB Leipzig vs Man City predicted lineups
We expect Cherki back behind Haaland after he changed the game against Brighton, having already led City’s comeback in the cup against the same opponents. Foden’s Champions League hat-trick against AEK Athens should get him in too, with Enzo Fernández and Iliman Ndiaye dropping out and Lewis replacing Matheus Nunes at right-back.
RB Leipzig predicted lineup (4-2-3-1): Vandevoordt; Henrichs, Orbán, Lukeba, Raum; Reitz, El Aynaoui; Gruda, Banzuzi, Nusa; Rômulo
Man City predicted lineup (4-2-3-1): Donnarumma; Lewis, Khusanov, Dias, Gvardiol; Anderson, Bouaddi; Foden, Cherki, Doku; Haaland
