Given that they have already played Bayern twice this season, Leipzig's record of seven wins and one loss from nine games in all competitions indicates that Marco Rose's reconstructed team will pose a serious threat to Man City.
RB Leipzig, which has recovered well from a summer renovation that nearly put the youthful club at risk, will take on Champions League champion Manchester City on Wednesday.
Leipzig, a regular in the Champions League who had just won its second consecutive German Cup, lost four first-team players to high-profile transactions over the summer, underscoring its position in the European football hierarchy—still seen as a small-club outsider.
Josko Gvardiol, a centre back, transferred to Wednesday's opponents City for a high transfer price, along with midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai to Liverpool and top scorer Christopher Nkunku to Chelsea. Konrad Laimer, meantime, made a free transfer to domestic rival Bayern Munich.
However, RB continued to demonstrate its exceptional capacity for spotting and nurturing young potential by bringing in a number of fresh players from throughout Europe, many of whom have already shone in a Leipzig uniform.
Given that they have already played Bayern twice this season, Leipzig's record of seven wins and one loss from nine games in all competitions indicates Marco Rose's reconstructed team is ahead of schedule and will likely pose a serious challenge to Man City.
A lot of chemistry
In the summer, Leipzig brought in more than 240 million euros ($250 million), with a large portion of that money being immediately reinvested in newcomers.
Lois Openda and Xavi Simons, a 20-year-old PSG loanee who helped Lens finish only one point behind champions Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1 last season thanks to his 21 goals, both joined the team.
Castello Lukeba, 20, from Lyon replaced Gvardiol at centre defence, and Benjamin Sesko, 20, a Slovenian striker prodigy, signed from Red Bull Salzburg, Leipzig's sister club.
Leipzig has adapted well to the arrivals, especially those up front.
It was especially important to replace Nkunku's performance, as the France forward scored 47 goals and provided 43 assists in 119 games while playing for Saxony.
After six league games, Simons has three goals and four assists while Openda has four goals and two assists in the same time frame.
Despite only appearing in two of his eight games with the team, Sesko, a tall striker who has been compared to Erling Haaland, has five goals in all competitions.
Rose acknowledged that "too much happened to us in the summer" but credited the team's current form to quick bonding after Leipzig held Bayern to a 2-2 draw on Saturday night.
"The squad (came together as) a real group) from day one in the training camp."
The boys' daily collaboration is enjoyable because there was such instant chemistry and excitement.
According to Rose, keeping such a close bond was not a guarantee.
"We need to keep working on that because if you're not careful, if you're careless, or if you start becoming full of yourself, you can lose something like that quickly.
"I'm the boss, and I'm making sure that this doesn't happen, so we can take this vigour and this unity with us in the coming weeks into phases where it maybe doesn't work so well."
We can carry this vigour and this camaraderie with us over the next several weeks into stages where it may not function as well because I'm the boss and I'm making sure that doesn't happen.
Leipzig was not sufficiently shaken by the premature termination of sports director Max Eberl on Friday, which RB claimed was caused by "a lack of commitment to the club, to the city," amid reports that he was taking the well-worn route to Bayern.
"Try to improve"
The Leipzig-born and raised Rose has been a regular in RB's recent form.
No team has amassed more points in the league than Leipzig since taking over at the beginning of last season. Rose has faced Bayern four times, winning twice and tying twice.
Leipzig, however, faced the eventual champions Manchester City in the round of 16.
After a 1-1 draw in Germany, Manchester was destroyed 7-0. Haaland, who played for Rose at Salzburg, scored five goals before being replaced by Pep Guardiola in the 63rd minute.
City lost two straight games for the first time since January following a midweek League Cup loss to Newcastle with a 2-1 loss at Wolves on Saturday.
However, it continues to be the league's top team and a formidable opponent.
Although Rose was certain that "we'll get our chances there," she stated on Saturday that "it's no secret what we've got waiting for us."
We'll aim to do better than we did in Manchester a few months ago, but I have full faith in the players to do their best.
