City begins its umpteenth assault on the 'Champions' in Germany

Inter and Porto seek to strike first in Milan

MADRID, 21 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Manchester City begins this Wednesday in Germany, in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 against RB Leipzig, their umpteenth attempt to assault the 'Orejona', in a day in which Inter and Porto will try to strike first in Milan.

Pep Guardiola's men, once again one of the great favorites in a competition that they have not yet won and in which they finished undefeated leaders of Group G -four wins and two draws and with only two goals conceded, the least in the competition together to Bayern Munich-, they face the crosses with the hope that this will be their year.

In 2021, Chelsea frustrated the 'citizen' dream in the final, and last year it was Real Madrid who, allied with the magic of the Bernabéu and in a few minutes of inspiration, beat them in the semifinals in a tie that seemed resolved on the side English. Dislikes that join that of 2020 when he was eliminated by the French Olympique de Lyon in the 'F8' that UEFA arranged due to the pandemic.

Now, the champion of the Premeir goes to the RB Arena after giving up the leadership of the Premier for his draw against Nottingham Forest (1-1) and aware of his lack of consistency away from the Etihad Stadium in recent weeks; in fact, their three defeats in 2023 have come at home -against Southampton in the Carabao Cup (2-0) and in the domestic competition against Tottenham (1-0) and Manchester United (2-1)-.

With the important absence of Kevin de Bruyne, plus those of central defenders John Stones and Aymeric Laporte, and clinging to the goalscoring nose of men like Erling Haaland or Jack Grealish, Pep Guardiola's men visit a Leipzig that advanced as second in Group F , just one point behind Real Madrid, and thanks to adding four wins in a row, including a 3-2 win against the reigning champions.

Those of Marco Rose, who took over the bench in September after the departure of Domenico Tedesco and who has only lost in two of his 16 games he has managed -10 wins and four draws-, are fifth in the Bundesliga, four units behind leader Bayern , after ending a small slump in results with a resounding win against Wolfsburg (0-3).

Precisely against the 'wolves' he returned after three months out, providing an assist, the Frenchman Christopher Nkunku, good news for a team that is lamenting Timo Werner's lack of success, although Rose confirmed that he is 'touched' muscularly and not will start, and will continue without the Spanish striker Dani Olmo, with a muscle injury. Neither will the Hungarian goalkeeper Péter Gulácsi or the Senegalese defender Abdou Diallo be in front of the 'citizens'.

The only two precedents between City and Leipzig occurred in the group stage of the 'Champions' last season, with a crushing victory for Guardiola's men in Manchester (6-3) and a triumph for the Germans at the RB Arena (2-1) in the last day, with nothing at stake.

At the Giuseppe Meazza, Inter and Porto will face each other again 17 years later in a duel in which they intend to strike the first blow on the way to the quarterfinals, all in the reunion, this time on the bench, of Simone Inzaghi and Sérgio Conceição, teammates at Lazio when they were players.

The Italian team, which finished in second position in Group B -after Bayern and ahead of FC Barcelona-, clings to the highest continental competition and the Coppa, where it is already in the semifinals, to try to salvage a season in the that it is almost impossible to fight for Serie A, where it is second to 15 points behind the leader Napoli.

Without the Argentine Joaquín Correa, the 'Nerazzurri', three times European champions (1964, 1965 and 2010), will entrust themselves to their compatriot Lautaro Martínez, in a spectacular moment of form since he returned from the World Cup, with seven goals among all the competitions in 2023. The Belgian Romelu Lukaku will once again have a chance to claim himself.

Opposite, the two-time champion Porto (1987 and 2004) will seek to remain undefeated this year, where they only gave up a league tie in the first game in January, and win their eleventh consecutive win. In fact, the 'Dragoes' have not fallen in any competition since October 21, when Benfica, the current leader of the domestic championship with a five-point advantage over them, managed to defeat them (0-1).

In 'Champions', they solved their pass to the round of 16 with four victories in the last four days, which allowed them to qualify ahead of Bruges and knock out both Bayer Leverkusen and Atlético de Madrid. Along the way, they have also overcome a plague of injuries - only Otávio and Evanilson remain in the infirmary - which has not undermined their options.

It will be the fifth time that both teams have crossed paths in official competition; Inter eliminated the Portuguese in the round of 16 of the 'Champions' of the 2004-05 season -1-1 and 3-1-, and the following year they shared a victory for each one in the group stage. The transalpines have yet to lose at home against Portuguese rivals, while the visitors have already eliminated two Serie A teams in this same phase, both in extra time -Rome in 2018-19 and Juventus in 2020-21-.