By Neel Shelat
Actual Madrid nonetheless looking for their first win on the Etihad
This will probably be Actual Madrid’s seventh go to to Manchester Metropolis’s house, however they’re nonetheless but to register an outright win on the venue. In reality, the Etihad Stadium is the one floor that the Spanish giants have visited over 5 occasions with out success.
Los Blancos have misplaced three and drawn as many video games on the Etihad, however they did emerge victorious on penalties of their most up-to-date assembly. That outcome broke the development of the first-leg hosts shedding all ties on this head-to-head.
Manchester Metropolis’s house type on the mend
Whereas the worst patch of Manchester Metropolis’s downturned type is probably going behind them, they definitely aren’t again to their finest but. They had been defeated in two of their final 5 video games, conceding over three objectives on each events. On the entire, they’ve misplaced exactly half of their final 22 matches.
Nevertheless, Pep Guardiola’s aspect appear to quietly be getting again on observe on their very own turf no less than. They’ve gained all 4 of their house matches in 2025, together with a few huge video games corresponding to Chelsea’s Premier League go to and their UCL league part finale in opposition to Membership Brugge. They are going to be determined to increase this streak in the beginning of a formidable wanting fixture listing.
New signings and damage points for Manchester Metropolis
Manchester Metropolis went huge within the January window, recording the second-highest mid-season switch spend in soccer historical past. They added 4 gamers to their first-team squad, however solely three may make the minimize of their revised UCL squad. So, teenage centre-back Vitor Reis is not going to characteristic in Europe this season.
€60 million midfield signing Nico González was broadly seen as Manchester Metropolis’s interim Rodri substitute, however he needed to go off injured lower than half an hour into his debut satirically sufficient. Uzbek defender Abdukodir Khusanov scored his first objective for the membership in that match, although he’s unlikely to characteristic forward of extra senior figures tonight. Versatile attacker Omar Marmoush is the likeliest of the trio to make his Champions League debut on this huge recreation, likely off the bench.
Jérémy Doku, Nathan Aké, Ederson and Oscar Bobb are the opposite doubts in Metropolis’s squad.
Actual Madrid’s defensive damage disaster compounded
Actual Madrid’s damage disaster is even worse as key defenders Dani Carvajal and Éder Militão are out for the season, whereas David Alaba is but to start out a recreation and not too long ago suffered one other setback. Antonio Rüdiger picked up a minor hamstring damage earlier this month, and issues had been made worse this week when stand-in proper again Lucas Vázquez suffered an identical situation.
So, Carlo Ancelotti should area Federico Valverde to the proper of a makeshift centre-back pairing of Aurélien Tchouaméni and Raúl Asencio.
Prediction
Given Actual Madrid’s depleted state, Metropolis ought to intention to document a multi-goal win.
(Cowl picture from IMAGO)
You possibly can observe each recreation from the Champions League with FotMob this season — that includes deep stats protection, xG, participant rankings, and a brand new super-intuitive knockout stage bracket. Obtain the free app right here.