Confirmed Line-Ups: Manchester City vs Bayer Leverkusen (UEFA Champions League) | OneFootball

Manchester City return to UEFA Champions League duties on Tuesday evening as they welcome Bayer Leverkusen to the Etihad Stadium in their fifth group-stage game.

City sit handsomely in fourth place in the group-phase rankings after picking up three wins and a draw in their opening four games of the 2025-26 campaign, having succumbed to Real Madrid in the Round of 16 stage of the competition last term.

The Blues were handed the latest blow to their Premier League title race hopes at the weekend as a Harvey Barnes brace either side of a Ruben Dias leveller handed Pep Guardiola’s men their fourth league defeat of the season.

Meanwhile, Arsenal extended their advantage at the top of the table to six points with an emphatic 4-1 beating of Tottenham at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday, leaving it all to do for Manchester City and Guardiola in the title race.

City will be without Ballon d’Or winner Rodri and Mateo Kovacic against Leverkusen, with the former making his way to full fitness after recovering from a hamstring injury and the latter set to remain on the sidelines until February 2026 as he recovers from surgery on his heel.

Guardiola is expected to shuffle his pack on Tuesday as Manchester City look to return to winning ways and claim a 12th win in 15 games in all competitions since September – a run of form that has propelled them back into the conversation of the title race after a slugging start to the 2025-26 Premier League campaign.

The Blues could see midfielder and summer signing Tijjani Reijnders return to the starting XI against Leverkusen, with the 26-year-old – who starred for Netherlands in the recent international break – fresh and ready to perform after starting both of City’s last two games against Liverpool and Newcastle on the bench.

Ahead of Tuesday’s 20:00 UK kick-off between Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen at the Etihad Stadium, here are the confirmed line-ups from both camps.

Manchester City

Starting XI: Trafford; Khusanov, Stones (C), Ake, Ait-Nouri; Nico, Lewis, Reijnders; Bobb, Marmoush, Savinho.

Substitutes: Bettinelli, Donnarumma, Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly, Bernardo, Cherki, Foden, Doku, Haaland.

Bayer Leverkusen

Starting XI: Flekken; Kofane, Quansah, Bade, Belocian, Grimaldo; Garcia, Maza; Tillman, Schick, Poku.

Substitutes: Lomb, Schlich, Echeverri, Ben Seghir, Tella, J. Mensah, Culbreath, Hawighorst, N. Mensah, Pohl.