Steph Houghton
Manchester City and England captain

I think it's been really impressive and with my affiliation with City I am always intrigued by what Pep does. The decision to use Bernardo at left-back was great. He is a great player but when you get to this level of game you need your best defenders and Ake has been one of them this season.

Matthew Upson
Former England defender on BBC Radio 5 Live

It's the type of game where if you're not tuned in and in position and ready, you'll get hurt on the break.

I think [Nathan] Ake will fill in at left-back and take responsibly of that position. He copes well in that wider position.

This season it's turned around for him - he's been patient and he deserves a lot of credit for that.

Inter Milan, second in Serie A, make four changes from the side that started the 3-1 win over Udinese at the weekend. Lautaro Martinez starts up front instead of Romelu Lukaku, with Andre Onana in goal in place of Samir Handanovic.

Milan Skriniar and Hakan Calhanoglu also get starting places.

Inter Milan XI: Onana, Bastoni, Acerbu, Darmian, Skriniar, Dimarco, Mkhitaryan, Barella, Calhanoglu, Dzeko, Martinez.

Subs: Handanovic, Cordaz, Dumfries, Gagliardini, De Vrij, Gosens, Bellanova, Asllani, D'Ambrosio, Carboni, Brozovic, Lukaku.

Four changes for Porto, second in the Portuguese league, from the 11 that began the 1-0 win over Rio Ave with starts for Zaidu Sanusi, Galeno, Mateus Uribe and Otavio.

Confusingly, they have two players called Pepe in their starting line-up - the veteran Portuguese defender and the Brazilian attacker.

Porto XI: Costa, Sanusi, Marcano, Pepe, Joao Mario, Galeno, Uribe, Grujic, Pepe, Taremi, Otavio.

Subs: Ramos, Cardoso, Carmo, Conceicao, Namaso, Franco, Wendell, Martínez, Evanilson, Eustaquio, Borges, Folha.

Image source, Getty Images

Leipzig boss Marcos Rose is as concerned about a forward at the other end of the pitch.

Rose previously worked with City's 32-goal striker Erling Haaland at Borussia Dortmund and knows just how damaging he could be to his team's chances tonight.

"If he sees the goal he is crazy about scoring," said Rose. "He is always there for the team, working for the team.

"He has improved his game a lot, his technical side, his movement and things around. Now he is playing for one of the best teams in the world and he is a world-class player.

"But I have great confidence in my team. We want to compete against one of the best teams in the world, see and look for opportunities."

Emlyn Begley
BBC Sport

"We want this Champions League again," said Karim Benzema after masters of Europe Real Madrid produced another magic night to become "favourites" for a 15th crown.

At 2-0 down to Liverpool within 14 minutes at a jubilant Anfield, many teams would have crumbled - but Vinicius Jr scored twice, Eder Militao powered in a header and then Benzema claimed two goals as Real won 5-2.

No away team had ever scored more than three goals at Anfield in a European tie. Nobody had ever come from two goals down to win a Champions League game by three.

Real is the Spanish word for royal and Madrid are true European royalty. They have won 14 European Cups, including five in the past nine seasons. Two of those final successes were against Jurgen Klopp's Reds.

"We played with personality, we produced goals - we want this Champions League again," said Benzema. "And that produced a match which was lovely to play in and for those who were watching.

"After those first 15 minutes we saw the true Real Madrid. Football at this level is hard. They started better than us but this was a big game and we were ready."

Read more here.

Phil McNulty
BBC Sport chief football writer at Anfield

Liverpool will look to their Champions League history as they clutch at the straws left behind from a brutal 5-2 demolition by Real Madrid but reality dictates this particular miracle may be beyond them.

If last season's Champions League final in Paris was a tight affair that could have gone either way before Vinicius Junior struck, this was an Anfield evisceration - a moment of history of the wrong sort for Liverpool.

The atmosphere before kick-off was thunderous, anticipation at the arrival of the holders with revenge in mind heightened by the understandable determination of Liverpool's fans to register their disgust at Uefa after it initially blamed supporters for the chaos at the Stade de France in May.

The Champions League anthem was jeered at deafening volume while a banner emblazoned with the words "Uefa Liars" took pride of place right at the front of The Kop.

All looked on course when Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah put Liverpool 2-0 up inside 14 minutes while manager Jurgen Klopp was fist-pumping at the stands to whip up the fervour.

In the closing minutes, with Liverpool dispatched by Carlo Ancelotti's brilliantly ruthless team, the voices of players could be heard shouting to each other while Klopp stood crestfallen and motionless with his hands in his pockets.

Read more here.

"I think Carlo thinks the tie is over, and I think it is as well at the moment, but in three weeks..."

Liverpool have certainly mounted fairytale comebacks before, but while Jurgen Klopp believes his optimism in overturning a three-goal deficit against Real Madrid will return, he will know significant improvements will be needed from Tuesday's 5-2 defeat at Anfield.

The loss - Liverpool's worst at home in Europe - means they have it all to do to reach the quarter-finals of this season's Champions League.

"We will go there and play a football game," Klopp said of the second leg in Madrid against the holders on Wednesday, 15 March.

"It will be a massive challenge. We have to make sure we learn from this game."

Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson lamented errors throughout the game that were costly against Carlo Ancelotti's men.

"We made too many mistakes around the goals," he added. "When you make too many mistakes, teams like Madrid punish you."

Read more here.

Image source, Getty Images

It all started well enough, with Liverpool 2-0 up before 15 minutes showed on the clock.

However, five goals in 46 minutes from a rampant Real Madrid swung the tie dramatically in favour of the Spanish side. You never say never, but it looks pretty unlikely that Jurgen Klopp's side will be making an appearance in the last eight.

It also continues what has been a pretty poor season so far for the Reds, who look a shell of the side who won the league and pushed Man City so close in recent seasons.

They are unlikely now to end this season with any major silverware and will be focusing squarely on trying to salvage a top-four spot for the remainder of the campaign. They're seven points off the pace as regards that as it stands.

Before we get fully stuck into tonight's stuff, let's have a little look back at last night and the horror show that took place at Anfield (if you're a Liverpool supporter that is)...

In the build-up to this, Guardiola has been speaking positively, including some massaging of the result they managed prior to tonight's game.

"Last game against Nottingham was highest standards," he said.

"I loved the way we play and we don't win because it's football. I do not have an answer on what happened in that situation.

"Today we trained and it's there but that doesn't mean we'll win. But I have a good feeling."

RB Leipzig's 17-goal forward Christopher Nkunku is only fit enough for a place on the bench for the hosts.

Nkunku made his first appearance since November at the weekend after recovering from injury and got an assist in a 3-0 win against Wolfsburg, but is not being risked from the start of this game.

Former Chelsea forward Timo Werner starts in attack.

RB Leipzig XI: Blaswich, Klostermann, Orban, Gvardiol, Halstenberg, Laimer, Schlager, Szoboszlai, Forsberg, Werner, Andre Silva.

Subs: Simakan, Haidara, Poulsen, Nyland, Nkunku, Raum, Nickisch, Henrichs, Kampl.

Image source, Getty Images

There are three changes for Manchester City from the 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest.

Nathan Ake, Manuel Akanji and Riyad Mahrez come in. Phil Foden drops to the bench while Aymeric Laporte and Kevin de Bruyne did not travel to Germany because of illness.

Man City XI: Ederson, Walker, Akanji, Dias, Ake, Rodri, Gundogan, Mahrez, Bernardo Silva, Grealish, Haaland.

Subs: Perrone, Phillips, Ortega, Alvarez, Gomez, Carson, Foden, Palmer, Lewis, Robertson, Charles.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

On the possible plus side for City tonight, RB Leipzig's Christopher Nkunku is doubtful for the game. The France forward has scored 17 goals in all competitions this season but only recently returned from an ankle injury sustained in November.

He played and got an assist in the win over Wolfsburg on Saturday but is being eased back to full fitness.

"Christo could only complete part of the training today because there was some reaction [from his injury]," said manager Marco Rose.

"We will certainly not start with him [on Wednesday].

"We will have to see if he can be with us at all, but we won't be taking any risks. We have a lot more matches this season."

Pep Guardiola's side have what looks to be a manageable task on paper. RB Leipzig are no slouches, by any means, but they are a side City will be confident of seeing off.

That said, they've had a little wobble here and there lately - the most recent of which saw them throw away big league points at Nottingham Forest - and they'll be in Germany without both Aymeric Laporte and Kevin de Bruyne, both of whom have been ruled out through illness.

Tonight, the English top-flight champions get their knockout campaign under way in Germany. Can Manchester City restore a bit of order and give the Premier League some cause for optimism? Or will all four of the division's representatives have a big job on their hands in their respective return legs?

We'll know the answer to that in a few hours.

It has not gone very well for the English teams in the first round of knockout games so far...

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images