Leverkusen Set to Face Manchester City in UEFA Champions League Showdown

Kasper Hjulmand’s Bayer Leverkusen is set to travel to the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night to take on Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in Matchday 5 of the UEFA Champions League.

In their last outing in this competition, City comfortably defeated Borussia Dortmund at the same venue. However, Guardiola’s squad faced a setback with a 2-1 loss to Newcastle United over the weekend. It remains uncertain whether this result will benefit Leverkusen, as City is renowned for their ability to quickly recover from disappointing performances.

Leverkusen arrives in Manchester with a surge of confidence, having secured three consecutive victories. Nonetheless, they will need to perform at their highest level to earn a positive result in this challenging matchup.

Scoring 10 goals across their last three matches, Die Werkself has exhibited a potent attacking prowess, led by Czech international Patrick Schick. This offensive momentum offers them a glimmer of hope; however, converting that effectiveness into a result against a team of City’s caliber will present a significant challenge.

In previous encounters against similar quality opponents, Leverkusen has struggled, suffering defeats to PSG and, more recently, Bayern Munich. The match against Paris Saint-Germain was particularly memorable for the visitors, who capitalized on nearly every meaningful attack.

For this trip to Manchester, Leverkusen will be missing several key players. Robert Andrich will serve the second match of his two-game suspension following his red card against PSG, while Edmond Tapsoba is also sidelined due to accumulated bookings. Injuries will keep Ezequiel Fernández and Exequiel Palacios out of the lineup as well.

**Projected Lineups:**
**Manchester City:** Donnarumma – Lewis, Stones, Gvardiol, Ait-Nouri – Gonzalez, Reijnders – Savinho, Foden, Doku – Haaland
**Bayer Leverkusen:** Flekken – Belocian, Bade, Quansah – Tella, Maza, Garcia, Grimaldo – Tillman, Poku – Schick