Manchester City against Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals
When: Tuesday, April 26th, at 7:00 p.m.
Where: Manchester’s Etihad Stadium
The kick-off is at 19:00 GMT.
According to Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti, the Spanish side’s illustrious history in the Champions League offers them an edge when they meet Manchester City in the first leg of the semi-finals.
Madrid is the most successful team in Europe, with 13 titles, while City only reached the Champions League final for the first time last year, losing 1-0 to Chelsea.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said that they cannot compete with Real Madrid’s European pedigree, but he believes they can write their own narrative.
In 2016, City and Real met in the semi-finals, with Real winning 1-0 on aggregate, but City avenged that setback with a last-16 victory in 2020.
Real Madrid had to come from behind to beat both Paris Saint-Germain and last year’s champions Chelsea to reach the final four of Europe’s premier championship.
City’s primary concerns going into the game are with their defense. Kyle Walker and John Stones, both at right-back, are uncertain after recent injuries, while Joao Cancelo, the other first-choice full-back, is suspended.
This matches the quarter-final from two years ago when Fernandinho played as a temporary center-back against the same opponents.
Head-to-head matchups in the Champions League
In the Champions League, Real Madrid and Manchester City have played six times, with each team winning two games.
The other two ended in a tie.
Real Madrid has won the European Cup 13 times.
For the tenth time in 12 seasons, the Spanish team is in the semifinals.
Real is making a record 15th appearance in the semifinals.
Man City has a passing accuracy of around 91 percent in this season’s tournament.
The English team scores 2.4 goals per game on average.
“We are extremely close to playing another final of the most important championship in the world, and we are scared because we are facing a very powerful squad,” Ancelotti says to the coaches. Villarreal and Real Madrid are two teams in the semi-finals that no one expected to reach. We’re thrilled to be here and compete. What I can assure you is that Real Madrid will always compete; we are doing it now and will continue to do so tomorrow and next week.”
“We have to want to compete against them,” Guardiola says. Playing against Real Madrid is a huge challenge. We’d want to give it a shot. When we have the ball, we must suffer, keep together, and assault. We’re up against players that have been in this situation before. That is why they have stuff that we may still lack. But I’m not sure if there are things we have that they don’t. It’s 11 v 11 in the end. “Enjoy that moment,” I tell the guys. You never know if we’ll come back at some point.”
