Real Madrid welcome Manchester City at the Bernabeu


By Neo Poho

For the second season in succession Real Madrid and Manchester City meet in the UEFA Champions League semi-finals with the stage set for another scintillating showdown.

Happening at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday night, the first leg of the semi-final between the two sides will be a rematch of last year’s semi-final when Madrid mounted an incredible comeback to get the better of City and go on to win a record-extending 14th Champions League title.

Manchester City head into the encounter with talisman Erling Haaland in an outstanding form  having scored 12 of City’s 26 goals in the Champions League this season.

Needing five more goals to equal Cristiano Ronaldo’s single-season record of 17 goals for Madrid in 2013-14, Haaland will be a force to be reckoned with for Pep Guardiola's men.

Madrid are in the last four for the third season in a row and this is their third successive semi-final against English opponents while City have also reached this stage for the third consecutive campaign and fourth overall, but have only gone on to the final once, in 2021.

City head into the tie after making it 20 games without a defeat with a 2-1 win over Leeds United on Saturday, the victory ensured that City keep their spot at the summit of the English Premier League while Madrid are 14 points off leaders Barcelona in La Liga but will be buoyed by their Copa del Rey triumph over Osasuna on the weekend.

With the citizens having an injury scare of Nathan Ake after he was replaced over the weekend due to what appeared to be another hamstring injury, Madrid will be without three important players for the match.

Left-back Ferland Mendy has missed the last 11 matches after suffering a calf injury during training at the end of March and the Frenchman is back in individual training but is not yet fit enough to return to action.

Meanwhile, another defensive blow for Madrid comes in the form of Eder Militao, the centre-back picked up his third booking of the competition in the quarter-final second leg against Chelsea and is suspended for the visit of City while Dani Ceballos has reportedly been ruled out of Tuesday's clash with Manchester City, taking the Spanish side's number of absentees to three.

Enroute to the semi-finals, Madrid defeated City's domestic rivals Liverpool and Chelsea in this season's knockout rounds, while the English side eased past German clubs Leipzig and Bayern München to get to the last four.

Kick-off at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday night is 21:00 South African time.

Article Tags

Football

Real Madrid

Manchester City

UEFA Champions League

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