Wounded City await gutsy Real

Manchester City, in the quest for their first-ever UEFA Champions League title, will take on Real Madrid, the 13-time Champions, in the first leg of the first semi-final at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday.

City managed to reach the final last year but fell short to another English club Chelsea as their long wait to win Europe’s most prestigious club title extended.

Real, on the other hand, have the record number of titles under their name, but have not won it in the last three seasons after three successive titles between 2016 and 2018.

They also come into the tie well-rested as they did not have a league match at the weekend, while City will come in with some rhythm after their 5-1 thrashing of Watford on Sunday.

Gabriel Jesus scored four in that match, but he is unlikely to start as Man City boss Pep Guardiola is likely to favour Phil Foden, Kevin De Bruyne, and Riyad Mahrez ahead of the Brazilian.

Man City will be without right-back Kyle Walker, who was injured during their narrow escape in the quarter-finals, where they were battered and bruised by Atletico Madrid but managed to hold on to a 1-0 lead over the two legs. They will also not have the services of John Stones, who was injured during their Premier League match against Brighton and Hove Albion.

Real are also suffering from injury problems as centre-back David Alaba and midfielder Casemiro are doubts for the match.

Considering the form of past rounds, Real might have not played the most attractive football in their previous round clashes against PSG and Chelsea, but they were agile, gutsy and clinical to seal both the ties.

The table-toppers in La Liga scored three goals within 20 minutes against PSG after going 2-0 down on aggregate to qualify. And in the quarter-finals, they were 4-3 down on aggregate against Chelsea at home at one point but managed to crawl out of the pressure and score two to knock the defending Champions out.

Real will be hoping that their in-form duo up front, Karim Benzema and Vinicius Jr, will keep going, but Guardiola is adamant about defending the Frenchman well.

“We have to defend well (vs Real), Benzema scores a lot of goals in his career, fantastic player, we defend well, we will have to defend and create chances to score,” the Man City boss said.

While Benzema has been the finisher up front, Luka Modric has been at the heart of everything good at Real this season, as Kevin De Bruyne at Man City. It was De Bruyne’s goal which won Man City their tie against Atletico, and Modric gave the all-important assist to Rodrygo for the goal that brought the Los Blancos back in the game.

The previous meeting between the sides was in 2019-20, where Guardiola’s Man City beat Zinedine Zidane’s Real Madrid 4-2 on aggregate.

On the other hand, the last time Carlo Ancelotti faced Guardiola as the Real Madrid boss was in 2013-14 when the Spanish side thrashed the Spaniard’s Bayern Munich side 5-0 over the two legs.

Guardiola seems to have remembered that match as he said he had both won and lost against Real.

“I’ve lost and won against Real. The talent they have means we can’t only beat them by having more talent,” the Man City boss said on Monday.