The latest on Christopher Nkunku, Kevin De Bruyne, and Aymeric Laporte ahead of RB Leipzig vs Manchester City (Champions League Last-16 First-Leg)

Manchester City have arrived in Germany ahead of the start of their latest Champions League knock-out stage adventure.

Bundesliga giants RB Leipzig are the latest club to pose a threat to Manchester City’s hopes of winning a first-ever UEFA Champions League title, and Pep Guardiola’s first European success since his days managing FC Barcelona.

The double-header against the Red Bull club comes in the midst of City’s Premier League title pursuit, where they are being strongly challenged by Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal side – with just two points separating the teams before the Gunners’ game in hand.

Manchester City will be hoping that they can bounce back from Premier League disappointment against RB Leipzig this week, after Nottingham Forest became the latest side to put a dent in the reigning top-flight Champions’ title hopes.

Ahead of a big night of European action in Saxony on Wednesday, here is all the latest team news and injury updates surrounding both Marco Rose’s RB Leipzig squad, and Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.

RB Leipzig

The main focus surrounding the fitness of the RB Leipzig squad is likely to be on Christopher Nkunku – who notched an outstanding hat-trick against Manchester City during the group stage of last season’s competition.

In the run-up to Wednesday night’s contest, the Frenchman was only able to complete ‘part of training’ on Tuesday, after his muscle ‘reacted badly’ to his comeback appearance against Wolfsburg at the weekend.

Marco Rose said during his pre-match press conference, “Christo (Nkunku) was only able to complete a part of training today because his muscle reacted badly after the Wolfsburg game.

“We knew anyway that he wouldn’t be able to start against Manchester City. We will have to see how he is tomorrow. We don’t want to take any risks and we’ve got a number of other players we can use instead.”

Elsewhere, the following players are all expected to miss out entirely against City in the Champions League last-16 first-leg:

• Dani Olmo, Torn muscle fibre
• Abdou Diallo, Knee problems
• Peter Gulacsi, Torn right anterior cruciate ligament
• Timo Schlieck, Meniscus surgery

Manchester City

Pep Guardiola will be without three of his first-team regulars for the first-half of their last-16 double-header against RB Leipzig this week, as confirmed in both their 22-man squad list and the pre-match press conference.

While John Stones is “getting better” following a muscle injury picked up in the FA Cup fourth round tie against Arsenal last month, the England international is still not ready to make any return to City’s matchday squad.

In more concerning news for the immediate future, both Kevin De Bruyne and Aymeric Laporte will be absent on Wednesday night having been excluded from Manchester City’s travelling squad list for the game.

Both players are suffering from respective illnesses, with manager Pep Guardiola unable to put a timeframe on their return – casting doubt over their availability for the upcoming Premier League match against AFC Bournemouth on Saturday evening.