100% sure betting odd as Man City face Real Madrid, Man City have one foot in the door of the Champions League quarter-finals but face a formidable Real Madrid side in second leg of their last-16 clash at the Etihad on Friday night.
Pep Guardiola’s side ran out 2-1 winners in the reverse fixture at the Bernabeu back in March, but Zinedine Zidane, in the opposing dugout, has won this competition three times and will know what it takes to get the job done, even if that would require a huge turnaround.
The Citizens will be determined to take one step closer to ol’ ‘Big Ears’ after they fell below domestic expectations this season, conceding the Premier League title to Liverpool with a whimper and suffering elimination from the FA Cup in the semi-finals to Arsenal.
Opposition do no come much bigger than Real Madrid, though. They may have clinched La Liga, but Zidane has never failed to win this tournament in any of his attempts and will want to keep it that way.
The winners will fly out to Portugal next week for a mini-tournament to determine this season’s champions, and one of Lyon or Juventus face either City or Real in the quarter-finals.
Man City & Real Madrid’s first leg line-ups:
- Man City: Ederson; Walker, Otamendi, Laporte, Mendy*; Rodri, Gundogan, De Bruyne; Mahrez, Jesus, B Silva.
- Real Madrid: Courtois; Carvajal, Varane, Ramos*, Mendy; Modric, Casemiro, Valverde; Isco, Vinicius, Benzema.
Sergio Aguero is, of course, the major absentee for City after he underwent knee surgery back in June. Benjamin Mendy will join him on the sidelines after he picked up a suspension in the first leg, while Claudio Bravo is expected to miss this tie with a muscular agitation.
Zidane will be without club captain Sergio Ramos, who picked up a late red card in the first leg. Marcelo is a major doubt after missing the last four games of the season with an abductor strain and Gareth Bale has been left out of Zidane’s 24-man squad. Neither has James Rodriguez while Mariano Diaz misses out after testing positive for Covid-19.
Players to watch:
Man City: There is only one man on the lips of every City fan at the moment and that is Kevin De Bruyne, the majestic Belgian playmaker who equalled Thierry Henry’s record assists total for a single Premier League season in 2019/20 (20). And if that wasn’t enough he also helped himself to 14 league goals. Make no mistake the outcome of this fixture could hinge on the performance levels of De Bruyne, and he rarely has a off day.
Real Madrid: Los Blancos will need goals to progress, and while they haven’t quite been the venomous force they once were when Cristiano Ronaldo was running riot in the Spanish capital, his departure has brought the goalscoring best out of Karim Benzema. Since Ronaldo left, Benzema has netted 20+ goals in successive league campaigns, something he had never previously managed to achieve. If Guardiola is to navigate his way through this tie, he will need to find a way to thwart the attacking potency of Real’s deadly No. 9.
Champions League – Play Offs
Manchester City vs Real Madrid
Home to Win and
Over 2.5 Goals
