Key events
Pep Guardiola, Manchester City manager, speaks:
Erling trained a bit yesterday but we spoke and he said he didn’t feel good. He is massively important to us but it is what it is. Hopefully we will stay in the game for many, many, many minutes. We know what we have to do in terms of courage.
Asked if Marmoush will play centrally as a striker, Guardiola simply responds: “you will see”.
Bloody Norah! Pep Guardiola always like to mix things up in crucial Champions League ties and he hasn’t let us down tonight. No Haaland in the starting XI – remember the striker hobbled off in the weekend win over Newcastle. No De Bruyne, although that was perhaps more predictable, even if the Belgian remains City’s best creator. Stones gets the nod at right back over Lewis and Matheus Nunes, it’s the Englishman that will have to deal with Vini Jr (and Mbappé when he drops out to the left wing).
The teams! Haaland on the City bench!
Real Madrid: Courtois, Valverde, Asencio, Rudiger, Mendy, Tchouameni, Ceballos, Rodrygo, Bellingham, Vinicius Junior, Mbappe.
Subs: Lunin, Mestre, Alaba, Camavinga, Modric, Guler, Endrick, Lucas, Vallejo, Garcia, Diaz.
Manchester City: Ederson, Stones, Khusanov, Dias, Gvardiol, Savinho, Gonzalez, Gundogan, Foden, Silva, Marmoush.
Subs: Ortega, Carson, Ake, Kovacic, Haaland, Grealish, Doku, De Bruyne, Matheus Nunes, Lewis, McAtee.
The Bernabéu roof is closed for this game. Woof.
As ever, Sid Lowe has done a fine job of setting up this Real Madrid clash. And as ever, Madrid have given him something to write about.
A bit more background here:
There’s also a tasty Premier League clash starting shortly, featuring the league leaders as Liverpool travel to Aston Villa. Marcus Rashford v Trent Alexander-Arnold, if you will.
You can follow that one live right here, it’s a 7.30pm GMT kick-off.
Preamble
This game doesn’t need too much of a sell. It’s Real Madrid v Manchester City, for goodness sake. It’s Pep Guardiola, Barcelona legend, at the Bernabéu. Carlo Ancelotti’s eyebrow is tantalisingly poised. Aside from Real and City, no other club has laid their hands on Ol’ Big Ears, the Champions League trophy, in four years. YOU WANT NARRATIVE? YOU GOT IT.
It really doesn’t get any bigger than this, particularly at the playoff round stage. It seems bizarre that this is effectively a qualifier for the round of 16, rather than a semi-final (remember this?) or a final. But that’s these two get for an underwhelming league phase.
Of course, Real Madrid are favourites. They practically own this competition, having claimed six of the past 11 titles on offer. They are at home and hold a 3-2 first-leg lead, which helps. But nobody thinks City are out of it. It might only takes one moment from Erling Haaland, one ridiculous cross from Kevin De Bruyne, one mazy Phil Foden dribble and shot and the whole tie could turn.
As a coach at the Bernabéu, Guardiola’s Barcelona team defeated Real Madrid in the 2011 Champions League semi-final and put six past them in their most resonant victory in La Liga. However, having lost the first leg 3-2 at home last week, none of the results he has secured here as City manager would be sufficient to see them through and after the first leg he said they had only a 1% chance. Carlo Ancelotti said he did not buy that, dismissing suggestions that Madrid’s chances stood at 99%, and claiming he would ask Guardiola if he really believed that his hopes were so small.
The mind games are well underway. It promises to be an absolutely delicious night of association football.
Kick-off: 8pm GMT, 9pm in Madrid.
