Esteve hoping for Champions League debut – and Haaland reunion

French centre-back Esteve hopes to make his Champions League debut for Leipzig against Manchester City, where he scored two own goals last season.

Maxime Esteve is eager to make his Champions League debut for RB Leipzig against Manchester City, the club he left Burnley to join in the summer. The 24-year-old French defender has been on the bench for Leipzig's opening two Champions League matches and is desperate for his chance in the competition.

Esteve has an unusual history with City: playing for Burnley last season, he scored two own goals at the Etihad Stadium, though he insists the second was particularly unlucky. Despite those mishaps, his manager Scott Parker highlighted his positive contributions in the match analysis. "He told me, 'Max, this is nothing. This is really, really nothing,'" Esteve recalls. "Instead, he showed me the good things that I did in the game."

The prospect of facing Erling Haaland again particularly excites him. Esteve rates Haaland as the best striker in the world, ahead of recent Ballon d'Or winner Harry Kane. "I played just two games against him, but you can see that he is, I think, maybe the best striker in the world," he says. "He is so powerful, so good at heading, so quick. All of the qualities to be a beast." Esteve credits his work under Vincent Kompany at Burnley and current Leipzig coach Martin Demichelis—both former Manchester City defenders—with shaping his meticulous approach to defending.