PreviewThe game of the year is coming up! After the 3-3 spectacle at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, Manchester City and Real Madrid are fighting for progress to the semi-finals of the premier class at the Etihad Stadium. While Pep Guardiola’s team wants to take advantage of the home advantage, Carlo Ancelotti’s ensemble wants to triumph away from the reigning Henkelpott winners for the first time. Who will advance? All information about the quarter-final second leg in the Champions League (Wednesday, 9 p.m.).
Fotos: Getty Images“>Enlarge
Guardiola or Ancelotti: Who will reach the semi-finals with their team? – Fotos: Getty Images
the initial situation
Will Real Madrid reach the semi-finals of the Champions League for the fourth time in a row? The Royals have to do this on Wednesday evening (9 p.m., in REAL TOTAL-Live ticker and at DAZN) Manchester City are bowled out of the premier class! A week ago on Tuesday, the Spanish record champions and the reigning Henkelpott winners drew 3-3 at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu. And now it’s all about progressing to the last four at the Etihad Stadium. “Road to Wembley” is the order of the day, but the task is by no means a sure-fire success for Los Blancos. On the contrary: Real Madrid have played at the Etihad Stadium five times to date – and have never won. Is there a premiere this time? The record so far is: two draws, three defeats. The last defeat for coach Carlo Ancelotti and his team came in the semi-final second leg of the previous season. The Merengues were defeated 4-0 and were eliminated after the first leg at the Bernabéu ended 1-1. In general, the Madrilenians cannot only boast about the results on English soil: of the last 20 away games with Premier League teams, Real were only able to win nine of them, four ended in a draw and seven were lost. How will things go in Manchester on Wednesday evening? Real Madrid have only progressed to the knockout phase of the Champions League in two of the last ten cases when they failed to win the first leg at home. Both times they made it into the next round against Manchester United (quarter-finals 1999/2000 and round of 16 2012/13). What gives hope in the meantime: the comeback qualities! Ancelotti’s team was only 44 minutes behind in this Champions League season – less than any other team. Although Los Blancos fell behind twice in the first leg against Manchester City, they were only behind for a total of 18 minutes in the game. After the 3-3 draw in the first leg, the home team was even disillusioned: Victory would have been entirely possible, but everything is still open in the second leg.
The opponent
In 2022, Manchester City failed in the semi-finals against Real Madrid, in 2023 the English defeated the Spanish, made it to the final and won their first Champions League title. In addition, coach Pep Guardiola also won the Premier League and the FA Cup with his selection, thus completing the treble. Guardiola would like to repeat the same feat with the Skyblues. In the English top flight, Man City won 5-1 against Luton Town last Saturday and thus moved to the top of the table. They are now in the semi-finals of the FA Cup against Chelsea FC (April 20, 6:15 p.m.). Real Madrid won 1-0 on Mallorca last Saturday and leads the table with eight points over FC Barcelona before the Clásico on Sunday (9 p.m.). While Guardiola and his team can still dream of a triple, for Ancelotti and his team “only” the double is possible. One thing is clear: one of the two teams has to bury a title dream on Wednesday evening. The Citizens could become only the second club to knock Real Madrid out of the competition in two consecutive seasons, after AC Milan in 1988/89 (semi-finals) and 1989/90 (round of 16). Guardiola and his team also want to rely on the supposed home advantage: the last three duels with Los Blancos on home turf were all won. The only coach who has previously won four home games in a row against Real Madrid in this competition is Ottmar Hitzfeld with FC Bayern Munich (four wins from 2000 to 2002). Guardiola has the chance to catch up. All the professionals were present in Man City’s final training session. This means: Kyle Walker could return to the starting line-up and take on Vinícius Júnior.
Expected starting XI: Ederson – Walker, Stones, Dias, Gvardiol – Rodri – Silva, Foden, De Bruyne, Grealish – Haaland.
Ancelotti is confident about the duel with City and reveals the match plan. Continue reading
Manageable England record and more: Can Real survive at City? Continue reading
Personnel and expected lineup
Compared to the 3-3 draw in the first leg at the Bernabéu, Ancelotti can rely on almost the same personnel in Manchester. Only change: Aurélien Tchouaméni is suspended after three yellow cards and is not in the squad. The Frenchman would only be eligible to play again in the possible semi-final first leg on April 30th or May 1st away against FC Bayern Munich or Arsenal FC. Nevertheless, he traveled with us – primarily to continue training with the team. The long-term patients Thibaut Courtois and David Alaba Meanwhile, missing again – unlike Rodrygo Goes, who was recently slightly injured and was in the squad for the 1-0 win at RCD Mallorca on Saturday, but did not play. Tchouaméni acted as a central defender in the first exchange of blows with Pep Guardiola’s ensemble Antonio Rüdigerwhose use in Manchester compared to Ancelotti REAL TOTAL assured with a laugh. In addition, everything suggests that Captain Nacho Fernandez instead of the Frenchman – and not Eder Militão, who barely played ten minutes after tearing his cruciate ligament. Suspended: Aurélien Tchouaméni (yellow suspension) Graphics: REAL TOTAL“>Enlarge
Real Madrid could start with this eleven in Manchester – Graphics: REAL TOTAL
The voices for the game
Carlo Ancelotti (Head Coach Real Madrid): “I think we can only look at tomorrow’s game and what happened last week. We have to compete, show confidence and fight and we will try to do that. The game was balanced, the result was that and we can expect another 90 minutes. Anything can happen, but we know we have the quality to cause them problems.”
Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid midfielder): “I’m looking forward to the game. These are the games that make you come to Real Madrid. I’m very happy and can’t wait to play the game. City is unpredictable. You try to focus a little too much on one player – and then you have ten others who can cause problems. It’s about attacking, defending and working strategically as a team. We have to be ready to play our game.”
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Pep Guardiola (Manchester City head coach): “They have always been great games between these two teams and they always will be. For me it’s special, but what we did in previous games doesn’t count now. We have to do better than at the Bernabéu. We talked about it in the locker room, we have to give it our all.“
Bernardo Silva (Manchester City midfielder): “I have the utmost respect for Real Madrid and, above all, for what they have achieved in this competition and in their history. They are a very dangerous team because they play differently to us. You think you’re in control, but out of nowhere they take over the game and score two goals. That’s very difficult. You think you have it under control, but that’s not true. Individually, they are perhaps the best team in the world. They are very young, very strong, very fast. We play at home and trust in ourselves, but we have a lot of respect.”
Statistics and special features
OVERALL BALANCE SHEET: Real Madrid and Manchester City faced each other in a total of eleven competitive games. The Royals won three times, the Citizens four times, and there were four draws. Goal balance: 17:20 from Real Madrid’s perspective – no team has scored more goals against City. And only Barça has won more often against the English with five wins. A COACHING CLASSIC: Guardiola and Ancelotti will face each other in the second leg for the eighth time in the Champions League, the sixth time as coaches of their current clubs. The only coaches who have duel more than eight times in the premier class are Sir Alex Ferguson and Hitzfeld as well as Ancelotti and Jürgen Klopp (nine times each).
YELLOW ALARM: Four professionals have to be careful at Real Madrid! Next to Vinícius stand too Daniel Carvajal, Eduardo Camavinga and Jude Bellingham with two yellow cards each. In the next one they would be banned for the semi-final first leg. Meanwhile, the yellow cards will only be canceled after the quarter-finals. This ensures that no player misses the final due to three yellow cards.
GOODBYE: For Mateo Kovačić the Champions League quarter-finals are special. The Croatian played for Real Madrid from 2015 to 2018, played 109 competitive games and won the Henkel pot three times, among other things. He joined Manchester City last summer via Chelsea FC, with whom he won the Champions League in 2021. The midfielder played over 90 minutes in the first leg at the Bernabéu. Will that also be the case in the second leg? It remains exciting!
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Preliminary report
Who will reach the semi-finals? Real are fighting for their first triumph at City
The game of the year is coming up! After the 3-3 spectacle at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, Manchester City and Real Madrid are fighting for progress to the semi-finals of the premier class at the Etihad Stadium. While Pep Guardiola’s team wants to take advantage of the home advantage, Carlo Ancelotti’s ensemble wants to triumph away from the reigning Henkelpott winners for the first time. Who will advance? All information about the quarter-final second leg in the Champions League (Wednesday, 9 p.m.).
17.04.2024, 00:03