Man City held 1-1 at Leipzig in Champions League last 16 first leg match

LEIPZIG, Germany: RB Leipzig center-back Josko Gvardiol scored a second-half header, canceling out Riyad Mahrez’s strike to earn a 1-1 with Manchester City in their Champions League last 16 clash on Wednesday.

One of the breakout stars of the Qatar World Cup as the cornerstone of Croatia’s miserly defense, Gvardiol showed his attacking flair, launching himself above the City defense to head in the equalizer in the 70th minute.

City took the lead after 27 minutes through Mahrez and looked on course for a comfortable away win but their fluency deserted them after the interval in the first leg tie.

The home side, who have only lost once in their past 20 games, found their zip in the second half and looked the team most likely to head to the Etihad for the return leg with a victory under their belt.

City’s star striker Erling Haaland suffered for a lack of service, with the Norwegian clearly missing ill midfielder Kevin de Bruyne.

City dominated possession in trademark fashion for the first quarter of the match, but failed to carve out any opportunities against a well-drilled and structured home side.

“At the end, we were a little nervous, the coach told us to calm down, there are 90 minutes left to play,” said Mahrez.

Leipzig coach Marco Rose added: “Two very, very different halves. We just didn’t happen in the first half, just chased the ball, were very bad when we had it. The second was quite different, we were better with the ball, won it back better and played how we had envisioned to play.”

The breakthrough came in the 27th minute, when City midfielder Jack Grealish took advantage of a sloppy pass from Xaver Schlager, pouncing with threading a vertical ball goalwards.

City captain Ilkay Gundogan attracted the