Newly crowned La Liga champions Real Madrid will look to book their place in the UEFA Champions League final when they welcome Premier League defending champions Manchester City in a heavyweight clash of the UCL semi-final.
Venue: Estadio Santiago Bernabéu (Madrid)
Key Statistics
Real Madrid have scored 2+ goals in six of their last seven competitive home fixtures (five wins and two losses).
They haven’t lost the home leg of a UCL semi-final since 2010/11 (five wins and three draws since then), including a 1-0 H2H win here in 2015/16.
The hosts have never progressed to a UCL/European Cup final after losing the semi-final first leg.
Manchester City have kept clean sheets in both previous away legs of their UCL knockout ties this term.
The visitors have lost just four of their last 17 UCL matches played on foreign soil (ten wins and three draws), including a 2-1 win here in the round of 16 in 2019/20.
They have scored 3+ goals in each of their last four games.
Madrid’s Karim Benzema is the first man to net 40+ competitive goals in one season for Real Madrid since Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure and with nine UCL knockout stage goals this term.
Head to head
In seven head-to-head meetings between both sides in the UCL, Manchester City have three wins while Real Madrid have just two wins.
Latest performances in all competitions
Real Madrid: W-L-W-W-L
Manchester City: W-W-W-W-L
Real Madrid
After sealing their 35th La Liga title last weekend courtesy of a 4-0 win over Espanyol, Real Madrid will turn their attention to the UCL this Wednesday as they look to overturn the one-goal deficit they suffered in the first leg of this semi-final tie.
The Spanish giants played out a 4-3 loss in the first leg at the Etihad courtesy of a brace from the red-hot Karim Benzema and Vinicius Junior.
Despite being the second-best in that game, Carlo Ancelotti’s side refused to be buried, pegging their visitors back repeatedly.
After being able to rest key players and still wrap up the title, they’re in good shape ahead of this tie, although David Alaba is one big absentee because of injury.
Aside from the injury to Alaba, Real Madrid are in good shape and will fancy their chances of overturning the one-goal deficit.
They have scored 2+ goals in six of their last seven competitive home fixtures (W5, L2), and haven’t lost the home leg of a UCL semi-final since 2010/11 (W5, D3), including a 1-0 H2H win here in 2015/16.
Possible Real Madrid starting line-up
Thibaut Courtois; Dani Carvajal, Eder Militao, Nacho, Ferland Mendy; Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, Casemiro; Federico Velverde, Vinicius Junior, Karim Benzema.
Injured: Luka Jovic, Gareth Bale, Eden Hazard, David Alaba
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Manchester City
Fresh from a 4-0 win over Leeds United in the Premier League, Manchester City will turn their attention to their quest to play in the UCL final for a second consecutive season.
The Cityzens will travel to Spain full of confidence after outplaying their opponents in the first leg, with the one goal deficit not a perfect reflection of their dominance in that game.
Their weekend win over Leeds United was their fourth win in a row and was also the fourth time they were scoring three or more goals in their last four games.
They have kept clean sheets in both previous away legs of their UCL knockout ties this term and will be desperate to a repeat in this tie.
But injuries to key members of their squad mean that they will be unable to field their first choice backline with Kyle Walker, John Stones and Nathan Ake all injury doubts for this tie.
Possible Manchester City starting line-up
Ederson Moraes, João Cancelo, Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Kevin De Bruyne, Rodri, Bernardo Silva, Riyad Mahrez, Phil Foden, Raheem Sterling.
Injured: Kyle Walker
Doubtful: John Stones, Nathan Ake
Suspended: None
Prediction
Real Madrid 2-2 Manchester City
