Manchester City visits Real Madrid on Wednesday night in an absolute headliner of a match. This is one of those hands-down, no doubt about it, lead fixture on the docket kind of matches. And yet, it’s also ironically, a 5th place versus 9th place match-up.
Given that it is the club who has won this competition far more than any other, versus the richest, most powerful club in the world, how is it 5th versus 9th?
UEFA Champions League Matchday 6 FYIs
Real Madrid vs Man City
Kickoff: Wed. Dec. 10, 8pm, Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain
Preview Material for Both Sides: Starting XI Predictions Team News
UCL Standing, Form: Manchester City 9th, 10 pts WDWWL Real Madrid 5th, 12 pts WWWLW
Well, because football is not played on paper, and decided by pure talent and drive alone. Both Madrid and City have dealing with injuries to several key players so far this season.
Predicted Starting XIs
Real Madrid
Thibaut Courtois; Federico Valverde, Raul Asencio, Antonio Rudiger, Alvaro Carreras; Aurelien Tchouameni, Eduardo Camavinga; Arda Guler, Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Jr; Kylian Mbappe
Manchester City
Gianluigi Donnarumma; Matheus Nunes, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol, Nico O’Reilly; Nico Gonzalez; Rayan Cherki, Tijjanni Reijnders, Phil Foden, Jeremy Doku; Erling Haaland
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, RG.org and Ratings.org. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and the Washington Post.