Real Madrid – Manchester City, live | Champions League

A grand welcome from Real Madrid fans to their team, with thousands of fans around the Santiago Bernabéu to give the team their last breath before the match against Manchester City.

Guardiola chose a relatively conservative lineup to visit Real Madrid in the first leg of the quarterfinals. Without De Bruyne, the Catalan opted for former Madrid player Mateo Kovacic. In defence, he has a line of four defenders with Akanji, Stones, Dias and Gvardiol. The Swiss defender will be in charge of marking Vinicius, the great offensive asset of Carlo Ancelotti’s team.

Less than an hour before the start of Madrid-City, the Bernabéu is starting to fill up little by little. Players from both teams have already stepped onto the grass and are in the locker room preparing for warm-ups.

We examine the substitutes for Real Madrid and Manchester City for the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals at the Santiago Bernabéu:

Real Madrid: Kepa, Fran González, Nacho, Lucas, Militao, Fran García, Ceballos, Modric, Güler, Joselu and Brahim.

Manchester City: Ederson, Carson, Lewis, Sergio Gómez, Susoho, De Bruyne, Nunes, Doku, Julián Álvarez and Bobb.

Manchester City announced the eleven with a big surprise: Kevin De Bruyne is a substitute. This is how Pep Guardiola’s team came out at the Santiago Bernabéu.

Ortega Akanji, Stones, Dias, Guardiol; Rodrigo, Kovacic; Foden, Bernardo, Grealish; Haaland.

Thousands of Real Madrid fans took the last few meters of the journey to board the white bus to the Santiago Bernabéu. The game has begun around Chamartín.

The bus carrying Manchester City’s expedition arrived at the Santiago Bernabéu amid a blaring whistle and plenty of boos. The Bernabéu will be pushing hard tonight for Real Madrid to get a positive result ahead of the return leg at the Etihad Stadium.

Carlo Ancelotti recalled what happened last year at the Etihad, when Manchester City beat Real Madrid (4-0) to qualify for the Champions League finals. “We played without courage or personality. Key aspects in this type of match and we lacked them in the second leg. We obviously lacked football in many situations of the game, in addition to the fact that courage and personality were not handled in the best way. It’s a problem “mentally, but also technically. They put a lot of pressure on us from above and we couldn’t find solutions. We want to avoid this in this tie,” he added.

Pep Guardiola, coach of Manchester City, does not want to call himself the favorite in the tie. “Win at true Madrid twice in a row is almost impossible in this competition. The goal is not easy. Last season we won and last season we lost. It’s like a classic between us. I don’t feel like it’s the same situation as last season. We have new players and it’s a completely different game. “We feel very strong and very confident about playing the second leg at home, but here the games are very long for different reasons,” he said.

Real Madrid had a nine-day break to prepare for the match with Manchester City. The whites were without a match in the Liga last weekend due to the Copa del Rey final. Manchester City, on the other hand, have played just two games this season: against Aston Villa on a weekday and against Crystal Palace at the weekend, both of which ended in comfortable victories. Guardiola protested a few days ago about the difference in rest time between the two teams.

Real Madrid have just made the lineup against Manchester City official. The main news is the presence of Tchouaméni in the rearguard axis forming a duo with Rüdiger. Nacho was sacrificed by Carlo Ancelotti and will start the game on the bench.

Madrid’s eleven consists of:

Lunar; Carvajal, Tchouaméni, Rüdiger, Mendy; Valverde, Camavinga, Kroos; Bellingham, Vinicius and Rodrygo.

Kyle Walker’s injury represents a major setback for Guardiola, as the City captain kept Vinicius dry for most of last season’s semi-final tie. The Brazilian himself has stated on more than one occasion that the English full-back is the toughest rival he has faced. Certainly, the choice to mark the Brazilian is Akanji.

The Santiago Bernabéu stadium shows its best when there are only a few minutes left before its doors open. 80,000 fans are expected in the stands of the white coliseum, which will be covered after UEFA allowed Madrid to deploy the retractable roof.

The match between Real Madrid and Manchester City brings together some of the best footballers in the world, with special attention to forwards and midfielders. The key to the tie will be who can impose their quality and how they stack up against each other in defence.

Rüdiger-Haaland:

The German and the Norwegian starred in an impressive clash in the first leg last year, when the white centre-back drained City’s tank. In the second leg he did not play and Carlo Ancelotti’s team paid more for it. Tonight a high-profile one-on-one between Rüdiger and Haaland is again expected.

Kroos-De Bruyne:
The main midfield pieces of both teams. The German is the conductor of Madrid’s orchestra and by his boots he spends the whole game with Ancelotti’s team. The Belgian, for his part, came into the event fired up after missing the first half of the season through injury. His arrival, his vision of the game and his lack of balance are the assets he will try to hurt Madrid.

Bellingham-Rodrigo:
The Englishman, who has declined in recent weeks, is still the white team’s top scorer with 20 goals in his first season at the Santiago Bernabéu. Bellingham is one of the unknown factors that Guardiola has to deal with. Rodrigo, for his part, is the anchor and helm of Manchester City and his influence on the game grows with each game. The two face each other in the wide zone.

There is still two and a half hours before the ball rolls around but the surroundings of the Santiago Bernabéu are already buzzing with excitement and anticipation. Expect a big reception for Carlo Ancelotti’s team. In addition, the club called for all fans attending the match to wear white. There will also be a 360 tifo that will be shown when the protagonists jump on the playing field.

Real Madrid reached the quarterfinals with only two players absent due to injury: Thibaut Courtois and David Alaba.

Manchester City, for its part, have major losses in defense: Kyle Walker and Nathan Ake did not go to Madrid while Josko Gvardiol and Ederson were doubts until the last minute. The Brazilian goalkeeper has been out for a month and it will be Guardiola’s decision to put him on or not tonight in Chamartín.

Real Madrid and Manchester City meet in the Champions League for the third consecutive season. This is the fifth draw in total that both teams have played. The first time they met in the KO phase was in the semifinals of the 2015-2016 season. In 2019/20 they met in the round of 16 in a tie split due to the pandemic, as the first leg was played in February and the second leg, after imprisonment, in August.

In the 2021/22 campaign, Madrid reached the grand final in a historic comeback and last season Guardiola’s team took revenge by winning the second leg with a memorable defeat: 4-0.

We start today live on MD the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals between Real Madrid and Manchester City (9:00 pm). The Santiago Bernabéu hosts a power-to-power match between the last two Champions League champions. The result will take place next Wednesday at the Etihad.