Manchester City face a tricky task against
10-time European champions Real Madrid in the second leg of the
Champions League semi-final at the Santiago Bernabeu on 4 May.
Where to watch live
Kick-off is set for 7.45pm BST. The game will be broadcast live on BT Sport Europe.
Overview
Gareth Bale's late winner against Real
Sociedad at Anoeta on 30 April kept Real Madrid in the race for the La
Liga title. The Spanish giants will be wary of conceding an away goal
after they failed to score at the Etihad in last week's first leg.
Cristiano Ronaldo is likely to start for the
hosts after recovering from a hamstring muscle tear. Karim Benzema
(thigh) is doubtful, but midfielder Casemiro (foot) should feature.
Manuel Pellegrini fielded a weakened team as
Manchester City fell to a 4-2 defeat against Southampton at the weekend.
The Premier League side have won three of their five away games in this
season's Champions League, including a 3-1 victory over Real's domestic
rivals Sevilla in the group stages.
Yaya Toure could start on the bench after recovering from thigh problem, but David Silva (hamstring) remains out.
What managers say
Zinedine Zidane:
"We have done our job [against Real Sociedad], which is the most
important thing. What the others do we'll wait and see, but it doesn't
matter. The most important thing was to win today ourselves. If we
hadn't the league would have been a lot more difficult. Now we need to
think about Wednesday. In my head I hope and think that Cristiano and
Karim will be fit and we will all be together."
Manuel Pellegrini:
"I was shocked that Madrid were so far back [in the first leg]. In the
first half especially, the team that was trying to recover the ball
further up and was playing with more intention was ours. Perhaps at some
point they looked superior and perhaps they were guessing, and they
were right, that they should play the first half by trying not to lose.
We didn't put defensive players in there nor did we wait for them at our
goal to try to avoid them scoring on us. On the contrary, we went out
to set the pace with our creative players who, unfortunately, weren't
very creative that day."
Form guide
- Real Madrid (all competitions): WDWWW
- Last result: Real Sociedad 0-1 Real Madrid
- Manchester City (all competitions): LDWDW
- Last result: Southampton 4-2 Manchester City
Betting odds (Betfair)
- Real Madrid win: 1/2
- Draw: 10/3
- Manchester City win: 5/1
Team news
Real Madrid possible XI: Navas; Carvajal, Pepe, Ramos, Marcelo; Modric, Casemiro, Kroos; Bale, Ronaldo, Vasquez
Manchester City possible XI: Hart; Sagna, Kompany, Otamendi, Clichy; Fernando, Fernandinho; Navas, Iheanacho, De Bruyne; Aguero
Post a Comment
Real Madrid will meet Manchester City in tomorrow's game played at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. In their last meeting, the score was 0-0. I wonder if Zidane's team prepared us with a surprise for tomorrow. Based on the past results of the two teams, I would expect for Real Madrid to perform well during this meeting and win this game. It should be interesting to see if Ronaldo will score during this match as he has a good average in terms of goals scored / match.