Manchester City take on Bayer Leverkusen at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday, November 25, 2025 in the fifth match of their Champions League league phase schedule.
The game kicks-off at 20.00 GMT and will be televised live on TNT Sports 1.
Manchester City predicted lineup vs Bayer Leverkusen
Manchester City (4-1-4-1): Donnarumma; Lewis, Stones, Gvardiol, Ait-Nouri; Gonzalez; Savinho, Reijnders, Foden, Doku; Haaland.
Pep Guardiola went with an attacking setup for Saturday’s fixture away to Newcastle with creative players Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden deployed in a three-man midfield alongside the more defensive-minded Nico Gonzalez.
Tijjani Reijnders didn’t come on until the 77th minute but he has started three of City’s four Champions League matches and will be among a handful of players pushing for a recall to the starting eleven.
Manchester City team news vs Bayer Leverkusen
City may have to battle on without Rodri, who is nursing a hamstring strain and hasn’t started a game since the 1-0 success away to Brentford on October 5th.
And their midfield resources are further limited by the loss of Mateo Kovacic (ankle), who has been confirmed as a long-term absentee and will not be involved until well into next year.
However, City still had a stacked bench for Saturday’s clash at Newcastle and Guardiola is sure to be considering how best to freshen up his side.
Rico Lewis and Rayan Ait-Nouri could be considered ahead of Matheus Nunes and Nico O’Reilly in the full-back positions and there could be a different look to the attack with Omar Marmoush and Savinho hoping to gain opportunities at the expense of Rayan Cherki and Jeremy Doku.
Several of the weekend starters could be given a breather although there should be certainty in the goalkeeping and centre-forward positions with Gianluigi Donnarumma and Erling Haaland in line to keep their places.
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City keen to maintain serene Champions League progress
City have seen their Premier League title hopes damaged by away losses to Aston Villa (0-1) and Newcastle (1-2), but they have been in cruise control in the Champions League with ten points taken from four matches.
Guardiola’s side triumphed 4-1 at home to Borussia Dortmund on matchday four and are unlikely to be fazed by the visit of Leverkusen, who are five points worse off in the league phase standings.
Leverkusen have already had a couple of bad experiences against top-notch opposition – losing 3-0 away to Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga and 7-2 at home to Paris Saint-Germain on Champions League matchday three.
They seem to struggle against elite-level opposition and that fact will not be lost on Guardiola, who will be looking for an immediate response to Saturday’s loss on Tyneside.
City played some decent football at the weekend but were undone by an aggressive opponent, who got the better of them in both boxes.
Every loss is keenly felt by Guardiola, who will be more aware than most of the need to ensure that a blip doesn’t turn into something worse.
It was at around this time last season that City were in the midst of losing nine of 12 matches as they struggled across multiple competitions.
They have looked a more resilient bunch in the 2025-26 campaign and will fancy their chances of bouncing back with a handsome victory.