The last place you want to be headed, when you’re down in a UEFA Champions League knockout round tie is El Estadio Santiago Bernabeu. But that’s the task for Manchester City now- beat the holders, the Reyes del Europa, Real Madrid at their place, or you go home.
Pep Guardiola will have his big guns blazing from the get go for this one.
UEFA Champions League Playoff Round Leg 2/2 FYIs
Real Madrid vs Manchester City
Aggregate: Madrid leads 3-2
Kickoff: Wed. Feb. 19, 8pm, Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain
Team News for Both Sides: go here
Starting XI Predictions: Manchester City Real Madrid
Google Result Probability, 90 Min: Manchester City 26% Extra Time 22% Real Madrid 52%
For a match like this, anyone who can possibly potentially play will certainly do so. Anybody who is 50/50 for this match, you know they’re actually going to be 100.
And with that mind, Pep, despite all the injury and fitness issues, actually has a pretty decently deep squad to work with in this one.
Man City Starting XI Prediction at Real Madrid (UCL)
Ederson: Rico Lewis, Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake, Josko Gvardiol; Mateo Kovacic, Ilkay Gundogan, Jeremy Doku, Phil Foden, Savinho; 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, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and RG. 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, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.
