RB Leipzig vs Manchester City: Haaland winner takes City to seventh place

Manchester City moved into seventh place in the UEFA Champions League standings after a 3-2 win over RB Leipzig on Wednesday at the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig, Saxony.

The result came on matchday four of the league phase and gave Enzo Maresca's side their third Champions League victory in four matches, lifting them into the top eight of the 36-team standings.

Erling Haaland struck the decisive goal in the 78th minute to secure all three points for the Norwegian international's side. Manchester City opened the scoring in the 37th minute through an own goal from Castello Lukeba.

Ridle Baku levelled the score for RB Leipzig, with City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma caught out at his near post.

Enzo Fernandez then restored Manchester City's lead in the 58th minute with a powerful header past goalkeeper Maarten Vandevoort, only for the German side to level the scores again at 2-2 courtesy a goal from Antonio Nusa in the 61st minute.

With just 12 minutes to go in regulation time, Haaland scored a close-range goal to give City a 3-2 lead. The victory took Manchester City to seventh place in the standings with nine points from four matches and a healthy +5 goal difference.

RB Leipzig, meanwhile, find themselves at the wrong end of the standings in 29th place with just three points from four matches.

Campaign records and competition format

Manchester City began their European campaign with a 2-0 win over FC Porto before going down 4-2 to Paris Saint-Germain. They then thumped AEK Athens 5-1 at home before getting the better of RB Leipzig in an away clash.

RB Leipzig began their campaign with a 4-1 loss to Como, before beating PSV Eindhoven 1-0 for their only win in the Champions League so far. Leipzig then suffered a 4-1 loss to Spanish giants Real Madrid on the third matchday of the league stage.

In the new format of the UEFA Champions League, the top eight teams qualify directly for the round of 16, whereas teams between ninth and 24th compete in a knockout stage playoff round to enter the last 16.

Teams placed below 24th are eliminated after eight matchdays.

Domestic standings and upcoming fixtures

RB Leipzig are fourth in the German Bundesliga with 15 points and will next host FC Augsburg on Saturday.

Manchester City are second in the Premier League standings with 21 points and will play 19th-placed Nottingham Forest in the English Premier League on Saturday as they look to get back to winning ways.

City have suffered consecutive league defeats to Aston Villa (2-1) and Brighton and Hove Albion (1-0). RB Leipzig plays its home matches at the Red Bull Arena, the largest football stadium in Eastern Germany.

Related on Apex Sports News

• Manchester United beat Roma 3-2 in Champions League comeback

Sources

• Mint

• Wikipedia: RB Leipzig (background)

• Photo: Bryan Berlin, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)