It may well have been with that in mind that Pep Guardiola decided to shuffle his pack, believing that City's squad depth would be more than enough to take care of the Bundesliga side.
Second-youngest Man City line-up in the UCL since 2018
Erling Haaland, Bernardo Silva, Ruben Dias, Rayan Cherki, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Nico O'Reilly, Jeremy Doku, Josko Gvardiol and others were all benched.
In fact, the hosts' starting lineup had an average age of 24y 353d, which was their second-youngest in a UCL game since December 2018 when playing another German side, Hoffenheim (24y 95d).
Disrespectful from Pep? Possibly. Stupidity? Definitely, as it turned out.
City were unbeaten in this season's Champions League heading into the game, and were on a run of seven straight wins at home in all competitions.
Fourth in the league table before the start of play, the Cityzens were looking to cement their place in the top eight, whilst Leverkusen were way down in 21st position after just one win, last time out against Benfica.
With both teams having scored in every game played in the competition in 25/26, goals were virtually guaranteed.
Grimaldo silences the Etihad
Although the game began in a lively enough fashion, there wasn't really much to speak about in terms of goalmouth action, with just one of City's three early shots on target, and both Leverkusen attempts blocked.
When Alejandro Grimaldo drilled the ball low and hard into the net on 23 minutes with the visitors' first shot on target, it silenced the majority of the stadium and was the earliest goal that City had conceded at home in the Champions League since April 2024 vs Real Madrid (Rodrygo in 12th minute).
In terms of defenders, only Achraf Hakimi (16) has been involved in more goals in the UCL than Alejandro Grimaldo (15 - 6 goals, 9 assists) since the start of the 2021/22 campaign.
The opener would also turn out to be one of just two shots on target in the whole game for Leverkusen, suggesting that, despite having a weakened starting XI, City were still setting the pace and tempo for the vast majority of proceedings.
Indeed, by the time the full-time whistle was blown, the hosts had made 450 passes in the final third compared to just 126 from their opponents.
City dominant
City had another couple of chances before the half-time break, with Tijjani Reijnders and Savinho particularly busy in and around the visitors' penalty box; however, the hosts didn't really look like scoring.
Their dominance can be put into context by the fact that Leverkusen attacker Christian Kofane had just nine touches in the first half, one of which was the assist for Grimaldo's goal.
A triple substitution at the break from Guardiola was clearly designed to inject some purpose and intensity into City's play, and O'Reilly did have a shot on target just seven minutes after being introduced.
Schick leaves Guardiola feeling sick
Just 15 seconds after that chance, Patrik Schick hit the hosts with another sucker punch, glancing a header past the outstretched glove of James Trafford.
Schick's second goal in two UCL games was in stark contrast to the single goal he managed in his previous 28 matches in the competition.
Leverkusen's build-up play for that goal was a joy to watch, though Guardiola surely won't be happy with how much space the visitors were afforded as they waltzed deeper into enemy territory.
For example, John Stones didn't attempt, let alone win, a single tackle in the entire match, and only Nathan Ake offered anything like defensive resistance on the night; winning eight of his 11 one-on-one duels was a best-in-class showing.
City onslaught in the final 10 minutes
Despite further introductions, including Erling Haaland, and a consistent attempt by the likes of Phil Foden and Savinho to make inroads, nothing was really clicking for the Premier League side.
Three shots from the Norwegian marksman preceded an absolute blitz in the final 12 minutes from City, as eight more shots were either blocked, off target or saved when on target.
Somehow, the Germans managed to hold out and, what's more, kept a clean sheet.
The shutout meant that Leverkusen keeper Mark Flekken had recorded back-to-back clean sheets in a major European competition for the first time since a run of three between September to October 2022.
By the close of play, City had dropped to sixth in the table, whilst Leverkusen had risen up to a respectable 13th, a point ahead of the likes of Barcelona, Atalanta and Napoli.
Depending on further results in this round of matches, City could find themselves outside of the top eight with three games to play - Real Madrid, Bodo/Glimt and Galatasaray - and their pathway to the knockout rounds might therefore be a little more difficult than Guardiola and Co. would've envisaged.
