RB Leipzig host Aston Villa in a crucial league phase tie in 2024-25 UEFA Champions League.
Only victory could realistically keep RB Leipzig’s knockout play-off qualification hopes alive, whilst Villa can move back into the top-eight with a win.
Team News
Castello Lukeba is suspended for RB Leipzig following his third booking of the campaign in this competition.
El Chadaille Bitshiabu, Assan Ouedraogo, Yussuf Poulsen (all muscle), Elif Elmas (hamstring), David Raum and Xavi (ankle) are ruled out.
Villa will be without Leon Bailey after he suffered a hamstring injury in their Premier League win over Southampton.
Jacob Ramsey (hamstring) remains sidelined.
When is Kick-Off?
RB Leipzig host Villa at Red Bull Arena on Tuesday 10 December at 9pm CET (8pm UK Time), live on Amazon Prime in the UK.
Stat Attack
- This is RB Leipzig’s first competitive fixture against Villa in all competitions.
- Villa are visiting RB Leipzig for the first time in any competition.
- RB Leipzig are unbeaten in four of seven previous home games against English opposition in all UEFA competitions (W3, D1, L3).
- RB Leipzig have lost two of their last three league phase fixtures by a 1-0 result.
- Villa have kept four clean sheets in their five league phase fixtures.
Prediction
Following their winless November in all competitions, RB Leipzig have bounced back with wins in their last two outings but they need to find their scoring boots if want to keep their fading chances of a knockout spot alive.
Villa meanwhile have been resilient with four clean sheets in five matches in this phase, but will be slightly disappointed to scrape a domestic win over Southampton given their dominance in that game.
I however don’t expect them to have a comfortable game here but given their squad rotation against Southampton, their freshness might well be the difference but this should see goals at both ends.
Prediction: RB Leipzig 1-2 Aston Villa
Result: RB Leipzig 2-3 Aston Villa
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