WHO: Real Madrid-Manchester City
That: Champions League round of 16, first leg
Where: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid, Spain
When: Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. (8:00 p.m. GMT)
How to follow: We’ll have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 17:00 GMT ahead of our live text commentary broadcast.
It is rare for 15-time winners Real Madrid to go into a Champions League clash as underdogs, but this is the situation when Manchester City visit the Santiago Bernabéu on Wednesday.
Recommended stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
With key attackers Kylian Mbappé, Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo injured and set to miss the match and Álvaro Arbeloa’s side in inconsistent form, the Premier League side are firm favorites in the last 16 tie.
Man City beat Madrid in the league stage in the Spanish capital and have since gone from strength to strength with the arrivals of Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi, while midfielder Rodri is fit after missing that game during a long injury absence.
Without a doubt, the two clubs know each other well. In the 15 meetings between them, each won five and drew five.
Including the next two matches, the match becomes the third most played in the history of the competition.
Arbeloa asks the fans to support Madrid
Xabi Alonso was in charge of Madrid when the two clubs last met in December, but his successor has failed to make the team play with more quality or consistency.
Perhaps Arbeloa’s greatest success has been helping winger Vinicius Jr regain his form, and the Brazilian represents Real Madrid’s best hope of success against City.
The winger was key in Madrid’s victory over José Mourinho’s Benfica in the playoff round despite allegedly suffering racist abuse in the first leg by Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni, who denies it.
Vinicius said he felt “a little tired” after beating Celta Vigo in La Liga on Friday, as the team depended on him in recent matches. They needed a deflected goal from Federico Valverde in the 95th minute to earn their 2-1 victory over Celta.
Arbeloa asked Madrid fans, who have sometimes criticized their own players this season, to inspire the team against City.
“We need them. We need them on Wednesday and they know it better than anyone,” Arbeloa said.
“It’s a Champions League night against a very tough opponent, one of the biggest clubs in world football at the moment.
“Playing at home, we know that we are much stronger when the Madrid fans are on our side.”
Madrid is committed to ‘fighting until the end’
This may well be the least confident Madrid have had when approaching any of the previous ties against City, even if they would never admit it.
“Real Madrid is about fighting until the end, about believing, about fighting,” Arbeloa said after beating Celta.
“Yes, we could do many things better, but with the personality and character that we have shown, I hope that this can be a turning point and, from here, everything will go much better.”
Haaland works on rhythm before traveling to Madrid
Erling Haaland is expected to return for City’s Champions League trip to Real Madrid after spending the weekend training and working on his rhythm.
The Norwegian striker did not travel for City’s FA Cup fifth round victory at Newcastle on Saturday as manager Pep Guardiola rotated his squad.
It was the second time in three games that Haaland had been absent after also missing the previous weekend’s Premier League win at Leeds with a knock.
“I didn’t think about letting him play and I prefer that he train to get into rhythm,” Guardiola said.
“After an injury, when he goes down, it always takes him a little bit to have that real rhythm.”
What happened the last time the clubs met?
Nico O’Reilly’s opportunistic goal and Haaland’s penalty helped City come from behind to beat Real Madrid 2-1 in a tense Champions League stage match at the Santiago Bernabéu on December 10.
Rodrygo opened the scoring with a low shot on a counterattack in the 28th minute, as City looked exposed almost every time Madrid ventured forward in the first half hour.
But Madrid hit the self-destruct button, first when goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois wasted a relatively easy header from Josko Gvardiol and O’Reilly converted the rebound in the 35th minute.
Then, eight minutes later, defender Antonio Rudiger conceded a penalty by bringing down Haaland as he went to receive a cross in the 5.5-meter (6-yard) area, and the Norwegian striker sealed the victory with the resulting penalty.
Face to face
These familiar foes will meet for the fourth consecutive season in a Champions League knockout clash.
Real Madrid eliminated City in the round of 16 last season, as they did in the 2024 quarterfinals and 2022 semifinals.
City beat Madrid in the 2023 semi-final en route to lifting the Champions League trophy for the first time.
Real Madrid team news
Star striker Mbappé is expected to miss out as he continues to deal with a knee injury, so Gonzalo García will start up front in his place alongside Vinicius Jr.
Defender Alvaro Carreras will also miss the match with a calf injury, Madrid said in a statement on Monday, without specifying how long he is expected to be out.
Rodrygo will not be available after breaking his anterior cruciate ligament against Getafe last week.
Bellingham, Dani Ceballos and Eder Militao are also ruled out with injuries, while David Alaba and Eduardo Camavinga are doubts.
Vinicius Jr, Aurelien Tchouameni, Álvaro Carreras and Dean Huijsen will have to be careful as they are all one yellow card away from a penalty.
Expected starting eleven:
Courtois (goalkeeper); Alexander-Arnold, Rudiger, Asencio, Mendy; Tchouameni; Camavinga, Valverde; Güler; Vinicius Jr, Gonzalo García
city team news
Rico Lewis has missed the last four games with an injury and Guardiola said he is unlikely to play against Madrid.
“He has a problem with his ankle, it’s a little swollen, but he’s almost back,” the City manager said.
Midfielder Mateo Kovacic and defender Gvardiol remain out with long-term injuries, but Guardiola said he expects both to return before the end of the season.
Gianluigi Donnarumma, Ruben Dias, Marc Guehi, Rodri and Bernardo Silva were rested at the weekend and will likely start against Madrid.
Expected lineup:
Donnarumma (goalkeeper); Nunes, Dias, Guehi, Ait-Nouri; Bernardo, Rodri, O’Reilly; Semenyo, Haaland, Marmoush
