The reigning champions put four unanswered goals past Chelsea over the two legs of their quarter-final to reach the last four. Meanwhile, Guardiola’s perennial hopefuls ran out 4-1 aggregate winners over Bayern Munich.
Team News
Real Madrid
- Madrid will be forced to work around the absence of Militao for the first leg due to suspension. The centre-back was cautioned for the third time in this season’s tournament during the second leg of the quarter-finals, after which players on one or two bookings had their yellow cards wiped.
- Left-back Ferland Mendy (calf) has partially trained and might be in with a slim chance of featuring. However, midfielder Dani Ceballos is suffering from a quadriceps problem and will miss out.
- Luka Modric managed to play a part as a substitute in the Copa del Rey final after shaking off a hamstring concern. The 37-year-old should be given the green light to start on Tuesday – music to the ears of Ancelotti and the Bernabeu faithful.
- Aurelien Tchouameni could be the unlucky fulcrum to make way for Modric. Meanwhile, Antonio Rudiger will join forces with David Alaba at the back in place of Militao.
- Eduardo Camavinga who can now proudly claim to have won every major trophy with Real Madrid at the tender age of 20 – should continue in his makeshift left-back role.
Manchester City
- A defensive concern is also lingering in the mind of Guardiola, who lost Nathan Ake to an hamstring with 54 minutes gone against Leeds. The Dutchman therefore has been ruled out of the first leg.
- Cole Palmer’s ankle is also giving him grief, but the 21-year-old has been named in the travelling party.
- With Ake sidelined, Guardiola will be tempted to recall Kyle Walker to try to keep Vinicius Junior at bay while a host of rested Rodri, John Stones, Bernardo Silva and Jack Grealish are aslo primed to return to the first XI.
- It was not Haaland’s day in front of goal at the weekend. But the 35-goal Norwegian – who also recently broke the single-season Premier League record with the same number – averages a goal every 58 minutes in the Champions League, unsurprisingly the best ratio in the history of the competition, and he will give his admirers plenty to think about on Tuesday.
Possible Lineup
Real Madrid : Courtois; Carvajal, Rudiger, Alaba, Camavinga; Valverde, Kroos, Modric; Rodrygo, Benzema, Vinicius Jr
Manchester City: Ederson; Walker, Dias, Akanji; Stones, Rodri; Silva, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Grealish; Haaland
Prediction Analysis
Man City, and Haaland especially, will be licking their lips at the prospect of facing a Militao-less Real Madrid backline, especially given Los Blancos’ recent failures at keeping the back door shut domestically.
However, if there is one thing to know about Real Madrid, it is that they are never to be written off in Europe. A first leg that could easily swing either way should no doubt live up the billing, and we expect the two behemoths to play out an entertaining stalemate, undeniably a better result for Guardiola’s men before the return leg at the Etihad on May 17.
Our prediction is Real Madrid 2-1 Manchester City