The first leg was crazy. The second leg of the quarter-finals between Manchester City and Real Madrid also promises great entertainment.
It really doesn’t matter how this duel between the giants ends, Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti will walk up to each other at the end of the game and congratulate each other. That alone requires appreciation, as fundamentally different as the two actually are.
As coaches of Manchester City and Real Madrid, the restless Catalan and the calm Italian are the architects of two clubs that are actually contesting an early final in the quarter-final second leg of the Champions League (Wednesday 9 p.m.). In any case, the 3-3 draw the previous week in the not-quite-finished Bernabeu had everything that makes for great games.
Manchester City are undefeated in 41 home games
The Spanish newspaper “As” then wrote about a “partido cañón”, a cannon game, because masterpieces of ballistics had been created. A breathtaking exchange of blows with multiple meta levels. There can hardly be better entertainment at club level. National teams no longer reach the level of world teams with international stars, who are employed in abundance in such clubs.
Guardiola will rely primarily on home strength with the Premier League leaders – City benefited from the mistakes made by Liverpool and Arsenal at the weekend. The “Skyblues” have not lost at home since November 2022. For 41 competitive games, this team has been playing in their own four walls with the aura of invincibility. That’s why the 53-year-old said with satisfaction after the first showdown between two world-class teams: “We’ll take that with us.”
Real Madrid relies on experience
And yet Ancelotti naturally believes in the chances of the guests from the Spanish capital. “It’s not a fantastic starting situation, but everything is still open.” The prediction of the old master, who has already held the trophy in his hands twice as a player and four times as a coach: “We will win it because of our attitude.”
He knows how it works. Despite an unsatisfactory 2022/2023 season, when the “Royals” were content with winning the cup, the soon-to-be 65-year-old has made the right adjustments again. The Spanish championship is very likely with an eight-point lead with seven game days to go.
Toni Kroos has retained his regular place
This also helped to rejuvenate the starting eleven, which seemed to be showing its age during the (lucky) Champions League triumph in 2022 against Liverpool FC (1-0). Jude Bellingham and Eduardo Camavinga, at the age of 20 and 21 respectively, have already secured permanent positions in the midfield – only Toni Kroos, at 34 years old, is the indestructible anchor who remains from the decorated troika with Luka Modric and Casemiro.
Up front, Ancelotti trusts Rodrygo and Vinicius Junior, the two Brazilians whom he can look after as national coach of the “Selecao” from 2024. How exciting this looks on a good day for the 23-year-olds was evident in the first leg. Ancelotti had moved Rodrygo from right to left and told Vinícius Junior to put pressure on City’s central defense as a false nine. The plan worked perfectly.
Antonio Rüdiger again against Erling Haaland
The fact that Manchester still scored three times says a lot about their class. And the fact that Erling Haaland wasn’t even needed was even more remarkable. Perhaps the best striker in the world was put on the chain by Antonio Rüdiger. In any case, Ancelotti knows that he can rely on the German national team’s defense chief. “Rüdiger will play the second leg,” he already made clear, announcing that he would not repeat his mistake from last season.
Without Rüdiger in the starting line-up, Real traveled to the second leg with a draw in the semi-finals a year ago – and lost 4-0 at City. Haaland did whatever he wanted with the Madrid defense, even if he didn’t score his own goal.
Defending champion against record champion
“Last year was tough, of course we want a bit of revenge now,” Rüdiger said before the first leg and then did everything he could to achieve this goal. The former Stuttgart player straddled, ran, wrestled and even put the increasingly annoyed Norwegian in a headlock.
Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden and ex-Leipzig player Josko Gvardiol scored the goals for the defending champions, who would of course set a milestone by advancing against the record champions in order to bring Guardiola once again to the goal of his dreams as a coach.