Real Madrid welcome Manchester City to the Santiago Bernabeu in the second leg of their semi-final tie in 2021-22 UEFA Champions League.
Trailing 4-3 from the first leg, Real must score at least twice to stand any chance of reaching the Final although a single goal would be enough to force extra-time and potentially penalties.
Man City meanwhile simply need to avoid defeat and they will be through to a second consecutive Champions League Final.
Team News
David Alaba is a major doubt for Real Madrid after he missed Saturday’s La Liga win over Espanyol with a muscle injury.
Luka Jovic (mouth) and Gareth Bale (back) are also doubtful but Miguel Gutierrez, Mariano Diaz (both muscle) and Eden Hazard (leg) are out for the season.
Eder Militao and Nacho are both set to return after the pair were suspended for Saturday’s domestic win
Man City could welcome Kyle Walker back into contention after the defender resumed training following his recovery from an ankle injury, which has kept him out of City’s last five matches.
Nathan Ake (ankle) and John Stones (muscle) are doubts but Benjamin Mendy (personal) remain absent.
Stat Attack
- Real Madrid are unbeaten in four of seven previous meetings against Manchester City (W2, D2, L3).
- Man City have lost two of their three previous visits to Santiago Bernabeu (W1, L2).
- Real Madrid have conceded twice in two of three previous clashes at home to Man City, winning 3-2 in September 2012 before losing 2-1 in February 2020.
- No player has played more minutes in the Champions League this season than Real’s Thibaut Courtois, with the Belgian goalkeeper having played 1,020 minutes in 11 matches.
- No midfielder has completed more passes in the Champions League this season than City’s Rodri, who has completed 691 of 735 passes in nine appearances.
Prediction
Trailing 4-3 from the first leg, Real will be relieved to now have the La Liga title wrapped up which hopefully will fire them up for this crucial clash, where they will need to be more focused to handle Man City’s fearsome attacking press and defend much better than they did last week.
City though don’t seem to be showing any signs of letting their impressive attacking intensity drop given how comfortably they terrorised Leeds’ defence in a 4-0 win on Saturday evening with excellent pace in their attacking movement with clinical finishing and strong defending.
On that note, this surely has to be another classic but Real simply have to score first because if City net early then the Spanish champions face a huge uphill struggle to net the three goals they would need in order to win the tie let alone this match.
Prediction: Real Madrid 2-2 Manchester City
Result: Real Madrid 3-1 (AET) Manchester City (Real Madrid win 6-5 on aggregate!!)
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