Home ›› 17 May 2023 ›› Sport
After last year’s frantic tie between the two sides, the first leg between Manchester City and Real Madrid this year was a comparatively dull one, ending up in a 1-1 draw, courtesy of two brilliant goals.
As the action now heads to the Etihad Stadium today, Man City will be looking for revenge for their last year’s heartbreak, while Real will hope that they find a repeat of last year’s heroics, and go on to the final as they aim for their 15th title.
The first leg was a fight between two different philosophies. Man City manager Pep Guardiola focused on control, while Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti aimed at maximising their individual brilliance.
In the end, Ancelotti’s tactics worked better in the first leg as Vinicius Junior scored a stunning goal cutting inside from the left wing, rendering Man City goalkeeper Ederson helpless.
City’s equaliser, a rocket from Kevin De Bruyne, was equally, if not even more, spectacular but was not the result of their expected possessional dominance, but rather a moment of sheer supremacy from an elite footballer.
“It was not easy to find the spaces. We’ll try to adjust something in the second leg to be more fluid and play with a bit more rhythm,” Guardiola accepted their shortcomings after their match.
Ancelotti was delighted after the first leg, stating that he would want a repeat of that in Manchester.
“It’s normal that City have the ball, we don’t have to go mad about that. After the goal we played very well, controlling the space, creating things, we played very well, I hope we can repeat it in the second leg,” he said.
Eyes on Haaland after first leg blank
Erling Haaland has been Europe’s hottest goal-scorer this season, already hitting 52 goals in 48 matches. However, in the first leg against Real, he was kept quiet by Antonio Rudiger.
Since that match, he played against Everton and found the net, something he will be hoping to do against Real on his home turf, where he has scored 37 goals in 28 matches.
While Haaland had a couple of tame attempts at the Real goal, he was martialled expertly by Rudiger and David Alaba.
Ancelotti was also full of praise for their defender, “He (Rudiger) had a fantastic game, clearly, we have to highlight that. But everyone did, because defensively we did very well, they did not make many chances.”
Vinicius on the roll
Vinicius Jr, this season, has taken the baton from Karim Benzema to become Real Madrid’s talisman, scoring 24 goals and providing 17 assists this season.
One of those goals came in the first leg, and City will need to stop him to ensure that they go through.
However, the Brazilian has shown no signs of stopping, and Kyle Walker, who did a decent job against him in the first leg, will have a difficult job in his hands at the Etihad.
Changes unlikely
There is a Champions League final in sight for both sides, and thus, the teams might not change too much, with City expected to field the same XI.
“I have an idea to do something differently, just to be more fluid in attack,” City manager Guardiola said ahead of the match.
The Spaniard, often criticised for overthinking big matches, joked that he is not doing that this year. That might suggest that the same XI playing in Madrid will play again, with Walker tasked with Vinicius.
Ancelotti, on the other hand, might bring in one change from the last match as centre-back Eder Militao will be back from suspension.
That might see forward Rodrygo Goes dropped, with Fede Valverde moving up to attack and Eduardo Camavinga moving to midfield, while Alaba will play at left-back.
