Friday night sees a very highly anticipated UEFA Champions League clash when Real Madrid visits Manchester City. In the first leg of the two legs in this tie, City was victorious, by a score of 2-1, Madrid. A few days prior to that match, Eden Hazard sustained an ankle fracture, the second major injury that he’s suffered during his debut season at the Santiago Bernabeu.
The €100 million signing finally got his long awaited and much discussed dream move to Real, but his debut campaign with the La Liga giants has been a total nightmare. The long break, and subsequent restart has given Eden Hazard a new chance this term, and although his minutes have been limited, he’s exepcted to feature tomorrow night.
Los Blancos boss Zinedine Zidane maintains that the Belgian superstar and former Chelsea man is feeling a lot better now.
“It’s true he had some discomfort at the end of the league season but now he’s much better,” Zidane said at his pre-match press conference.
“We’ve had a lot of time to prepare. I think he’s fine and feeling confident. It’s true that after he was injured during the season, playing every two or three days, it was hard for him to recover. But he doesn’t have to play with discomfort.”
It’s possible we’ll see Eden Hazard in the first team at the Etihad.
“There was a moment after his second injury, but now he’s fine,” Zidane added. “Let’s hope he can keep going without problems.”
UCL Round of 16 Leg 2 of 2 Manchester City vs Real Madrid FYIs
Kickoff: Friday Aug 7, 8pm Etihad stadium
Aggregate: City leads 2-1 from the first leg
Watch: CBS Sports, FuboTv
Starting XI Predictions for both sides: go to this link
Team news for both sides: go to this link
Odds: Real Madrid win +320 Draw +340 Manchester City win -139
Prediction: Manchester City 2, Real Madrid 0
While City will be without their all-time leading scorer, Madrid’s absentee list is longer and much more damaging to their cause. Los Blancos also have to fight uphill and away from home, thus a victory by the visiting side here would be surprising to say the least.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly contributes to WGN TV, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Now and SB Nation.
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