Manchester City begin the most crucial week of their quest for an unprecedented double treble when they host Real Madrid on Wednesday.
The Champions League holders played out a thrilling 3-3 draw at the Bernabeu in the first leg of their quarter-final first leg last week.
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Pep Guardiola’s men then moved two points clear at the top of the Premier League with a 5-1 victory over Luton on Saturday, a day before title rivals Liverpool and Arsenal suffered shock defeats.
City now have the chance to knock 14-time title holders Madrid out of the Champions League for a second consecutive season.
The Etihad side renew hostilities with Carlo Ancelotti’s side just days before their FA Cup semi-final at Wembley, with City now favorites to defend their historic treble.
Man City vs Real Madrid: On the brink of the abyss
Normally, clubs just don’t do that to Los Blancos, the European giants and record Champions League winners.
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But Man City could become the second team to knock Real Madrid out of the European Cup/UEFA Champions League round of 16 in consecutive seasons.
It’s a feat that hasn’t been achieved for almost 35 years, with AC Milan being the only team to have achieved it – in 1988-89 (semi-finals) and 1989-90 (round of 16) .
And City are the hot favourites, having won each of their last three home games against Real.
All of these have been led by Guardiola, who has lost just one home game against Ancelotti in their 11 touchline duels.
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- This will be the eighth time that Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti have faced each other in the UEFA Champions League, and the sixth while they manage their current clubs, Manchester City and Real Madrid. The only managerial pairs who have faced each other more than eight times in the competition are Alex Ferguson & Ottmar Hitzfeld and Carlo Ancelotti & Jürgen Klopp (nine times each).
- The last five meetings between Manchester City and Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League have produced 23 goals, an average of 4.6 per game. In two of the five matches, the first goal was scored in the first two minutes of play (1:34 by Kevin De Bruyne in April 2022 and 1:49 by Bernardo Silva in the first leg this season).
- Manchester City have won each of their last three home matches against Real Madrid, all under Pep Guardiola in the UEFA Champions League (2-1 in 2020, 4-3 in 2022 and 4-0 in 2023). The only former manager to win four consecutive home matches against Real Madrid in the competition is Ottmar Hitzfeld, who did so at the helm of FC Bayern München between 2000 and 2002 (4).
Man City vs. Real Madrid: Team news
The home team are sweating on the fitness of John Stones but are otherwise having to deal with an impeccable state of health.
Kyle Walker, Phil Foden and Nathan Ake were all unused substitutes against Luton and the first two are in contention to start.
Madrid are missing several key stars, with goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and David Alaba topping the list of absentees.
Rodrygo missed the 1-0 win over Mallorca on Saturday with a knock and is doubtful but Aurélien Tchouameni is suspended.
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- Real Madrid have only progressed in two of their previous ten UEFA Champions League knockout matches after failing to win the first leg at home. The two times they managed to progress in this scenario in the second leg were against Manchester United (1999-2000 quarter-finals and 2012-13 round of 16).
- This will be Manchester City’s 200th match in a European competition, while their 113 wins to date are exactly the same number as Real Madrid in their first 200 such matches. If the Citizens win, they will occupy the fourth spot for most wins in their first 200 European matches, after Ajax (118), Juventus (115) and Liverpool (114).
- This season, Real Madrid are the team furthest behind in the UEFA Champions League standings (43:48). Indeed, although they were behind twice in the first leg against Manchester City, they were only behind for a total of 18 minutes in the match.
Man City vs Real Madrid: What was said?
Guardiola has warned that City captain Walker could see his season end early if he rushes back this week.
The defender has missed the last five matches for club and country with a hamstring injury suffered in England’s 1-0 defeat to Brazil.
Walker had to leave his fight against Vinicius Junior at Wembley early and was unable to recover in time to feature in Spain.
His absence saw City lose goals down the right side, with Walker himself desperate to be fit for the second leg.
“He feels a lot better but he was injured, so now we will see in the next few days,” Guardiola said after the Luton match.
“But he’s fine, he feels good.
“Maybe he can help with the minutes because it’s a ‘final’ but I don’t want to lose him for long if he gets injured. He will train a little more now and we will decide.
“I know how important Kyle is against Real Madrid players. But he wasn’t in Madrid and Manu [Akanji]Josko [Gvardiol]John [Stones]Rubén [Dias] played incredibly well. We will see.”
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- Phil Foden has scored in each of his last five UEFA Champions League starts (five goals); longest run by a Manchester City player in the competition, with Sergio Agüero (February 2018–March 2019).
- Bernardo Silva has scored four goals in seven games against Real Madrid – against teams he faced more than 5 times as a Manchester City player, only against Watford (115) does he have a better minutes per goal ratio than against Los Blancos (144). .
- Real Madrid’s Toni Kroos has completed 95% of his passes under high intensity pressure in the UEFA Champions League this season (259/273); the best of any midfielder in the competition. Indeed, Kroos only completed one of his 23 passes made under high intensity pressure during the first leg against Manchester City (96% – 22/23).
Man City v Real Madrid: talkSPORT coverage
This Champions League quarter-final second leg will take place on Wednesday April 10.
Kick-off at the Etihad Stadium is scheduled for 8 p.m.
talkSPORT 2 will cover the match live, with Adrian Durham providing live updates from the Etihad on talkSPORT.
Comments will come from Sam Matterface and former Manchester City manager Stuart Pearce.
