No Kevin De Bruyne as Raheem Sterling starts - Man City fans pick starting XI vs Leeds

Manchester City fans clearly had one eye on Wednesday’s Champions League trip to Real Madrid when picking their team to face Leeds.

City are just one game away from reaching their second European final in as many years and they will want their assets primed and ready for the battle of the Bernabeu. With that in mind, supporters have decided to leave out a number of important players for today’s trip to Leeds.

The Premier League champions led the table by a point heading into the weekend and will know a slip-up could cost them the advantage. Pep Guardiola will be confident of seeing out the game with the players they have on the pitch, though, and will know by kick-off whether they are playing to jump back above Liverpool or to extend their lead, with the Reds playing Newcastle at lunchtime.

READ MORE:Walker and Stones — Man City injury news and possible return dates ahead of Leeds fixture

The line-up selected by City supporters in our team generator sees a backline that may well start against Madrid on Tuesday. Ederson is guarded by Joao Cancelo, Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte and OleksZinchenko in a 4-3-3 formation.

Guardiola has little manoeuvrability to rest defenders with both Kyle Walker and John Stones injured, albeit the latter could return in time for Wednesday. Supporters have opted to give Kevin De Bruyne a rest ahead of the trip to Spain and have instead picked Rodri, Fernandinho and Bernardo Silva to start in midfield.

They have given the nod to the on-fire Gabriel Jesus up top while Raheem Sterling and Jack Grealish - who played a combined seven minutes between them against Madrid on Tuesday - manage the flanks.

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