Man City went to the Bernabeu and picked up a 3-3 draw in the 1st leg of their Champions League quarter-final clash and this week, they welcome Real Madrid at the Etihad Stadium for the reverse fixture.
Manchester City are undefeated in their previous 27 matches across all competitions and playing at home, Pep’s side haven’t tasted defeat in their last 20 outings. It’s fair to say that the form Man City are in right now, they will be the favourites to progress to the next round but then no one can really write off Real Madrid.
At the Bernabeu, Man City had their noses in front twice and if they can come up with a similar level of performance, it should not be hard to defeat Carlo Ancelotti’s side. In the first leg, City had 62% possession despite playing away from home and throughout the 90 minutes, they had 12 shots on target.
Manchester City’s team news and injuries:
John Stones is the only injury doubt for the Man City manager but even if the England international is missing, it won’t bother Pep too much because all his other players are fully fit.
Last week, Guardiola relied on a 3-2-4-1 formation with Mateo Kovacic playing as an advanced midfielder but Kevin De Bruyne is going to return to the starting XI which means Pep is more likely to shift to a 4-1-4-1 with Rodri playing as the lone CDM.
This formation might be a bit tricky but it will allow Man City to have two No 10s(Foden and KDB) on the pitch, thereby helping them take control of the match in the final third.
Grealish and Doku will be fighting over a place on the left wing but since the latter played in the 5-0 win over Luton Town on Saturday, Jack Grealish will be preferred against Real Madrid.
Erling Haaland was completely useless in the 1st leg and if Man City want to progress to the semis then the Norwegian will have to come up with a top-class performance on Wednesday night. At the Bernabeu, Rudiger neutralised him brilliantly as Haaland had only four touches in the opposition box throughout the 90 minutes and managed only one shot on target.
KDB will return to the side and that will be of big help to Haaland but if these two can’t click then like the first leg, Man City will have to rely on wonder strikes to see them through.
Man City predicted line up vs Real Madrid:
Predicted Starting XI(4-1-4-1): Ederson; Gvardiol, Walker, Ruben Dias, Akanji; Rodri; De Bruyne, Foden, Grealish, B. Silva; Erling Haaland.
