BERLIN: Coach Martin Demichelis will be looking to strike a blow against his former employers when his RB Leipzig side host Manchester City in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Former Argentina centre-back Demichelis spent three seasons at Manchester City, winning the 2013-14 Premier League title and two League Cups.
Demichelis, who also won four league titles as a player at Bayern Munich, is now hoping to bring success to Saxony in a budding coaching career.
Leipzig have beaten City just once in six attempts, but may feel Enzo Maresca’s men are vulnerable.
In their past three games, City have lost twice and won the other match on penalties, as the spectre of sanctions for breaching financial rules looms.
Demichelis, 45, was controversially handpicked by then-Red Bull boss Jurgen Klopp to take over in the summer.
To bring in Demichelis, Leipzig sacked popular coach Ole Werner, who had taken a young team back into the Champions League.
Demichelis was relegated from La Liga during a short stint with Mallorca last season but Klopp and Leipzig had seen enough to convince them of his ability, after he oversaw a significant up-turn in the club’s form.
After a rocky start with Leipzig including a 4-1 loss at Como in the Champions League and a 6-1 thrashing by Bayern Munich, Leipzig have won three games in a row.
The Red Bulls sit just three points off top spot in the Bundesliga, but are in desperate need of points in Europe.
The 2020 semi-finalists are 29th in the 36-team table after winning just one of three Champions League games this campaign.
Leipzig centre-back Maxime Esteve said Demichelis has brought a “competitive aura” to the club.
Esteve also has experience defending against Manchester City talisman Erling Haaland in the Premier League.
The Frenchman acknowledged his side had played against freshly minted Ballon d’Or winner Harry Kane only two weeks ago, but called the big Norwegian “the best striker in the world”.
“He’s so powerful, so good with his head, so quick. He has all of the qualities to be a beast.
“So it will be a difficult game but when you want to progress in football, you have to play against the best opponents. And you want to perform in this type of game.”
PAINFUL MEMORIES
In Wednesday’s other fixture, Manuel Pellegrini’s Real Betis will travel to Borussia Dortmund where the 73-year-old suffered one of the most agonising defeats in his long career.
In 2013 Pellegrini’s Malaga conceded twice in injury time against Jurgen Klopp’s Dortmund, to miss out on a Champions League semi-final berth.
Veteran coach Pellegrini has regularly produced impressive results at the highest level but his failure to win the Champions League means some hesitate to place him among the managerial elite.
It was an especially cruel defeat for Pellegrini, who had attended his father’s funeral in Chile before landing in Germany on the morning of the match.
“They did not want us in the semi-finals,” complained Pellegrini about the officiating afterwards, with Felipe Santana’s winner seemingly scored from an offside position.
That summer Pellegrini moved to Manchester City, winning the Premier League and two League Cups before departing in 2016, without a Champions League trophy.
The evergreen Chilean joined Betis in 2020 and is now enjoying the longest spell in charge of a club in his career.
Pellegrini has stayed faithful to the idea that his teams must entertain and Betis fit the bill, boasting a host of exciting attackers like Isco and Ez Abde.
Betis beat Lille 3-2 in a thriller before going on to overcome FC Porto and Feyenoord to maintain their perfect European start.
Pellegrini’s side have qualified for European football for six straight seasons and in 2025, reached their first ever European final, in the Conference League, where they were defeated by Chelsea.
Elsewhere on Wednesday, Slavia Prague host last year’s finalists Arsenal, who will be boosted by the return of defender William Saliba, while record 15-time champions Real Madrid will look to maintain their perfect start as they take on Greek side AEK Athens.
Liverpool travel to Turkiye as they face winless Fenerbahce and Italian outfit Napoli lock horns with FC Porto.
Cesc Fabregas’ Como lock horns with RC Lens and Dutch side PSV Eindhoven entertain Club Brugge. There will also be a clash of debutants as Norwegian side Viking face Sabah FK.
Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2026
