Champions League Quarterfinal: Man City – Real Madrid
These 2 giants have fought some spectacular battles over the last few years and last week again didn´t disappoint. A phenomenal game of football with 6 goals, some even more beautiful than others have set up a poised second leg where both teams still have all chance to progress through to the next round. Man City did manage to beat Real Madid at home in the last 2 seasons however, with especially last year´s first half display of extreme high dominance. However, City will have to remain vigilant at the back as Real Madrid are extremely dangerous on the break with Rodrygo and Vinicius
Man City Team News
Manchester City appear to be injury free. With Kyle Walker and Nathan Ake at the back seemingly available. Whether they will actually start or make an appearance as a substitute remains to be seen. Especially the return of Walker could prove to be vital to handle Vinicius and Rodrygo through the left hand side. That was exactly where Real Madrid caused most problems for the Citizens last week.
Real Madrid Team News
Real Madrid don´t have any new injuries compared to the team of last week. Long term injured Alaba and Courtious are still unavailable. However, the biggest blow will be given by the suspension of Tchouameni. The young frenchman has been instrumental for Ancelotti in providing cover at the back and when in midfield defensive stability. With the expected attacking barrage to come from City Ancelotti would have very much liked to have Tchouameni available for the game.
Man City Form
Man City like always it seems have picked up form again at the end of the season.After the slip ups of title rivals LIverpool and Arsenal over the weekend Guardiola´s men have teken over the driving seat again in the premier league and look on course for a 4th league title in a row. Also their champions league form has been excellent, with last week´s draw against Real Madrid being the first game that they hadn´t won in this year´s campaign. Real Madrid after last year´s result will be cautious to open up too much tonight.
Real Madrid Form
Although perhaps less spectacularly than City, Real Madrid are also in very good form.Ancelotti´s men are virtually undefeatable this season as only Atletico has actually managed to defeat them this season. Some draws here and there mean that a defeat in the coming Sunday´s Clasico could open up the Spanish title race a bit, but apart from that Real Madrid remain very well in control of their title bid in Spain.
What do the stats say?
- 3 of the last 4 matches between these 2 teams saw at least 5 goals.
- Manchester City scored 8 goals in last 2 home matches against Real Madrid
- Manchester City have won 28 and drawn 2 of their last 30 home games, scoring 97 goals in the process