Carlo Ancelotti's side lost the first leg at Etihad stadium 4-3 and will need to overturn a one goal deficit to go through to the final in Paris.
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Real Madrid could be without their star defender David Alaba for the second leg of the Champions League semi-final clash at Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday. After wrapping up the La Liga title on Saturday, the Los Blancos are preparing to face the Premier League giants. Carlo Ancelotti’s side lost the first leg at Etihad stadium 4-3 and will need to overturn a one goal deficit to go through to the final in Paris. The Spanish side’s defence wasn’t at their best in the first leg because of the absence of defensive midfielder Casemiro and Alaba had to be substituted in the first half because of injury. Real Madird are now likely to miss the central defender Alaba, who didn’t train with the squad and as reported by Cope via Mundo Deportivo, he has suffered a ‘fibrillar rupture’.
⚒ BACK to work!
? #RMCity | ? #UCL pic.twitter.com/PbYwLq0Bcl— Real Madrid C.F. ???? (@realmadriden) May 2, 2022
Alaba was rested in the 4-0 win against Espanyol. The Austrian is key to the Los Blancos this season after arriving from Bayern Munich on a free transfer and it looks as though he is going to miss probably the most important match of his short Real Madrid-stint. It’s likely that Nacho will replace him in the starting lineup to partner Eder Militao. No doubt, it’s going to be a big blow to the Los Blancos because Manchester City is a very attack minded team and they have six players who have scored more than ten goals across all competitions this term. Therefore Madrid’s defence will need to be at their best to get the job done at home turf.
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. at Etihad stadium, Real Madrid defence was in sixes and sevens and will certainly need to do much better in the home leg.
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.
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.
