The Los Blancos will need to overturn a one goal deficit in the second leg at Santiago Bernabeu to go through to the title decider.
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After an extraordinary first leg of the Champions League semi-final clash at Etihad Stadium last week that saw Manchester City prevail 4-3 over Real Madrid, both sides will meet again on Wednesday to decide the finalist. The Los Blancos will need to overturn a one goal deficit in the second leg at Santiago Bernabeu to go through to the title decider. In the first leg, Man city started the match brightly to go 2-0 up early on courtesy of goals from Kevin de Bruyne and Gabriel Jesus. And then, Karim Benzema pulled one back for Carlo Ancelotti’s side. After the break, Phil Foden netted Man City’s third of the night before Vinicius Junior made a dazzling run to make the score 2-3. Although Bernardo Silva’s stunning strike restored City’s two goal lead, Benzema’s panenka penalty kick made the score 3-4.
?âš˝ @Benzema pic.twitter.com/EhI6jFESZn
— Real Madrid C.F. ???? (@realmadriden) May 2, 2022
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The Los Blancos shrugged off the loss, quickly went into their domestic duties and thrashed Espanyol 4-0 to lift their 35th La Liga title on Saturday. Rodrygo netted a first half brace before Marco Asensio extended the lead in the second half and Karim Benzema’s late effort completed the drubbing. It was a dominant domestic season for Ancelotti’s side as they sealed the title with four games to spare. Once again the onus would be on star-striker Benzema to get the job done at home turf against the Premier League giants. The Frenchman is currently the best striker in Europe with 42 goals to his name in as many games across all competition. Meanwhile veteran midfielder Luka Modric is also going to be a key figure. It was the 36-year-old’s pass of the tournament that led to Rodrygo’s goal and took the game to extra-time, where Benzema netted the decisive goal in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final clash against Chelsea.
On the other hand, Man City are also heading into the tie on the back of a dominant 4-0 win against Leeds United to move one point clear of Liverpool at the summit. Rodri opened the scoring before Nathan Ake doubled the lead and late strikes from Gabriel Jesus and Fernandinho sealed the win. Unlike Real Madrid, Man City has a variety of goal-scoring options. Six players have scored more than ten goals across all competitions this term. Riyad Mahrez is City’s top goal-scorer having netted 24 times in all competitions, and six of those have come in the Champions League. Meanwhile Jesus has been in stunning form of late, having scored six goals in his last three games, and four of those came in a single match against Watford on April 23.
Real Maddrid have been handed a blow as central defender David Alaba hasn’t trained with the team and is a big doubt for the Man City clash. Therefore Nacho and Edr Militao are likely to be deployed in the heart of the defence. The likes of Ferland Mendy, Benzema and Toni Kroos were all benched at the weekend with this encounter in mind.Â
As for Man City, Guardiola will welcome back Joao Cancelo after the suspension while right-back Kyle Walker is unlikely to be fit for the clash. De Bruyne, Silva and Mahrez are all primed to return to the starting eleven after being benched in the Leeds win.
Real Madrid possible starting lineup: Courtois, Carvajal, Militao, Nacho, Mendy, Kroos, Casemiro, Modric, Rodrygo, Benzema, Vinicius Jr.
Manchester City possible starting lineup: Ederson, Cancelo, Dias, Laporte, Zinchenko, Silva, Rodri, De Bruyne, Mahrez, Jesus, Foden
The second leg of the Champions League semi-final fixture between Real Madrid and Manchester City will take place at the Santiago Bernabeu and it will kick-off at 12:30 am IST on Thursday, May 05.
The match will be live streamed on the SonyLIV app and website, and the JioTV mobile app. Meanwhile football fans in India can also enjoy the action on TV networks, as the competition is telecasted on the Sony Ten network.
