Real Madrid vs Manchester City
Champions League
Date: Wednesday, 26 February 2020
Kick-off at 20:00 UK/ 21:00 CET
Venue: Estadio Santiago Bernabéu (Madrid).
The match that most neutrals were looking forward to when the Champions League draw was made takes place this week, as Manchester City will travel to Spain for the first leg of their clash with Real Madrid. But, which side will take the advantage into the second leg?
Match Preview
Real Madrid and Manchester City will both have hopes of ending this season will silverware, but both teams will be prioritising different trophies. Real Madrid want to end the dominance that Barcelona have achieved in La Liga by winning their first domestic title in three years. Meanwhile, City will be hoping for a first-ever European success.
Pep Guardiola was brought into City to win this top prize, but the Spaniard hasn’t won the Champions League in nine years. He was unable to add to the two wins that he achieved with Barcelona during his time at Bayern Munich, and he hasn’t fared much better at the Etihad. City’s hopes of regaining the Premier League title are over as Liverpool continue to set a blistering pace, which means they will be prioritising success in this competition. Aymeric Laporte is back from injury, which will improve their defensive solidity, and they come into this game off the back of a 1-0 win against Leicester City.
Real Madrid come into this first leg having suffered a shock defeat in their last league game as they were beaten 1-0 by Levante. With that defeat, they surrendered their place at the top of La Liga, and that makes this week huge for Zinedine Zidane and his team. They face Barcelona in El Classico this coming weekend, and two defeats in the next seven days would almost end any hope of Madrid ending the season with a trophy.
As mentioned earlier, both teams have prioritized the CL trophy as their ultimate prize this season. By all means we can count on the squads to put forth their best performance of 2019-20, this coming Wednesday.
Going on though, the scales are slightly shifted in the direction of the Citizens at present. They are desperate for a win due to the ban, and exactly as if on cue, the defensive prowess of the Spanish side seems to be under-performing right when they needed it the most.
Moreover, Pep Guardiola’s men had finished as group champions, they had scored the most number of goals in the PL so far, and even had defeated this opponent 4-1 the last time these two met.
Likely, expect the reigning English champions to do just enough to avoid a loss in the first leg, so as they could utilize the home advantage in the return leg to complete the job.
However, do understand that the match takes place at the Bernabeu, and that the hosts hold a 100% winning record in h2h matches here. They have also been unbeaten against City in CL fixtures, and are a side well known to ruthlessly go after the European title. As such, expect goals to come from both teams in this ultra-competitive fixture.
This will be the fifth time that these two sides have come up against each other. Manchester City are yet to record a win against Real Madrid during this time. Madrid have won two fixtures, and there have been two draws. Madrid have won both of the fixtures that have been played at the Bernabeu.
Real Madrid Team News
Eden Hazard will be missing for the fixture after picking up an ankle injury at the weekend, while Gareth Bale and Luka Jovic will also be missing.
Manchester City Team News
Raheem Sterling will be missing for the fixture against Madrid, while Leroy Sane will also miss out.
Real Madrid vs Manchester City Prediction
As mentioned earlier, both teams have prioritized the CL trophy as their ultimate prize this season. By all means we can count on the squads to put forth their best performance of 2019-20, this coming Wednesday.
Going on though, the scales are slightly shifted in the direction of the Citizens at present. They are desperate for a win due to the ban, and exactly as if on cue, the defensive prowess of the Spanish side seems to be under-performing right when they needed it the most.
Moreover, Pep Guardiola’s men had finished as group champions, they had scored the most number of goals in the PL so far, and even had defeated this opponent 4-1 the last time these two met.
Likely, expect the reigning English champions to do just enough to avoid a loss in the first leg, so as they could utilize the home advantage in the return leg to complete the job.
However, do understand that the match takes place at the Bernabeu, and that the hosts hold a 100% winning record in h2h matches here. They have also been unbeaten against City in CL fixtures, and are a side well known to ruthlessly go after the European title. As such, expect goals to come from both teams in this ultra-competitive fixture.
