Two European heavyweights lock horns in the stand-out tie of the Champions League play-offs as Manchester City take on Real Madrid.
The first leg will be played at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday February 11th, before the return leg at the Bernabeu on Wednesday the 19th.
In a game that wouldn’t look out of place as the final, the two giants will battle it out for a place in the last-16 after enduring disappointing qualification campaigns.
Manchester City finished the league phase in 22nd – narrowly making it through to the play-offs after coming from behind to beat Brugge in their final game following a disastrous run of form. Tipped as one of the early-season favourites to go all the way and win the Champions League, it was a surprise to see City struggle this season and they won just 3 of their 8 league games to finish on 11 points. A better goal difference saw them advance to the play-offs ahead of Dinamo Zagreb – who just missed out.
Real Madrid fared slightly better than City after finishing 11th in the league standings on 15 points having won 5 of their 8 games. However, they’ll still be disappointed not to have done enough to finish in the top 8 and avoid the two-legged play-off.
Both City and Madrid will rue their bad luck to have drawn each other at this stage of the competition, and it means one of the early favourites will be sent packing before the last-16 stages.
Man City will be hoping to secure an advantage in the first leg at the Etihad on Tuesday night so they have something to protect when they travel to Spain next week. Unfortunately, Pep Guardiola’s men have struggled to find consistent form this season and sit fifth in the Premier League table after being thrashed 5-1 at Arsenal last weekend. They’ll have to produce a much-improved display if they want to stand a chance against Madrid.
How to watch
The game will be shown live on TNT Sports and Amazon Prime, kicking off at 8pm UK time.
Match going fans can buy football tickets to Premier League and Champions League games through the clubs or online retailers such as Go Sports Travel.
Predicted line-ups
It will be interesting to see who Guardiola selects in goal as he’s been rotating Stefan Ortega and Ederson this season. The Brazilian is far more experienced so we expect him to be given the nod against Madrid.
Kevin de Bruyne has struggled to force his way back into the Man City starting eleven on a regular basis since returning from injury so he may have to settle for a place on the bench. January signing Omar Marmoush could start in attack to support Erling Haaland while Bernardo Silva is likely to partner Mateo Kovacic in midfield.
As for Madrid, Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior will be the dangermen in attack. Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo should also start in a star-studded line-up.
Possible Man City XI: Ederson, Lewis, Akanji, Stones, Gvardiol, Silva, Kovacic, Foden, Savio, Marmoush, Haaland.
Possible Real Madrid XI: Courtois, Vazquez, Alaba, Rudiger, Mendy, Valverde, Tchouameni, Bellingham, Rodrygo, Vinicius Jr, Mbappe
Predicted score
This should be a fascinating tie between two European heavyweights but given the form of the two clubs this season, you’d have to give Madrid the edge.
If City are to stand a chance of progressing to the last-16 they’ll need to take a healthy lead with them to the Bernabeu. However, I really don’t see them beating Madrid at the Etihad.
If they can stop the ball getting into Madrid fearsome attack, and supply Haaland with some chances, then Man City can get a positive result, but I’m predicting a draw which will put Madrid in the driving seat.
Prediction: Man City 1-1 Madrid
