Josko Gvardiol scored a second half equaliser to earn RB Leipzig a 1-1 draw against Manchester City in their Champions League last 16 clash at the Red Bull Arena on Wednesday evening.

Gvardiol, one of the Qatar World Cup’s breakout stars as the linchpin of Croatia’s resolute defense, displayed his attacking flair by leaping above the City defense to score the equalizer in the 70th minute.

In the first leg, City took the lead through Mahrez after 27 minutes and appeared to be on course for a comfortable away victory, but their fluidity waned after the break.

The home team, who had only lost once in their previous 20 games, regained their vigor in the second half and appeared the most likely to head to the Etihad with a victory in hand for the second leg.

Erling Haaland, City’s star striker, suffered from a lack of service, as the Norwegian midfielder Kevin de Bruyne was absent due to illness.

The first quarter of the match was dominated by City’s trademark possession dominance, but the visitors were unable to create opportunities against a well-drilled and organized 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 new man went close to scoring an equaliser twice in the space of two minutes early in the second half, first through a looping header and second when he shanked a close-range attempt when one-on-one with Ederson.

The introduction of Christopher Nkunku in the 66th minute came during the home side’s best period of the game and gave them an immediate boost, striker Andre Silva forcing a rushed save from Ederson a minute later.

Gvardiol snuffed out an Haaland counter attack and got the home side on the scoreboard soon after, climbing a metre higher than the City defence to head in the equaliser from a Marcel Halstenberg corner.

Man City held on as Leipzig searched for a winner, meaning both teams head to Manchester on an equal footing ahead of the return fixture on March 14.