Real Madrid Real Madrid vs Man City

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UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

2/19/202512 min read

Mbappé and Madrid have the advantage but a place in the last 16 remains up in the air.

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More pictures from both sides' preparations.

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New Champions League format

Graham Hunter

Reporting from Estadio Santiago Bernabéu

Another key piece of evidence from the warm-ups was something Madrid’s players work hard on in training and pre-match every week – shooting drills. The Madrid keepers were being made to work double-time as Rodrygo, Vinícius Júnior, Valverde and Mbappé, in particular, were slamming long-range shots past them.

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Mbappé prepares.

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Anticipation is building.

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Graham Hunter

Reporting from Estadio Santiago Bernabéu

Madrid's version. Two different methods but an identical objective – to be limber, sharp and ready.

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Silky skills from the league phase before we enjoy these two terrific sides meeting each other again.

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Graham Hunter

Reporting from Estadio Santiago Bernabéu

City’s warm-up.

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Who's going through?

Real Madrid vs Man City: Who will advance to the round of 16?

Real Madrid

Man City

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Check out a selection of memorable moments from the first legs of these play-offs.

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Warm-up time! City goalkeeper Ederson has averaged three saves a game in this season's competition, covering more than 34 kilometres and achieving a passing accuracy of more than 90%.

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Mbappé has scored in four of his six UEFA Champions League appearances against City.

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Heading in.

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...and starter Tchouaméni takes an early tread of the turf.

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More snaps from Madrid making their way in...

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Here's how City checked in. They're aiming to continue a run of participating in the round of 16 in every UEFA Champions League season since 2013/14.

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Graham Hunter

Reporting from Estadio Santiago Bernabéu

The other big, big news in the City line-up is that they start with two young men who are making their full debuts for their new club in this elite competition. Nico González will be anchoring midfield alongside Ilkay Gündoğan, and in attack it looks very much like Marmoush will be the centre-forward instead of Haaland.

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Here's how Madrid arrived a little earlier in pursuit of a tenth win in their last 13 two-legged UEFA Champions League ties against English teams.

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Graham Hunter

Reporting from Estadio Santiago Bernabéu

Lewis deputised for the injured Akanji last week but there’s no place initially for the talented Englishman. Instead, Stones will play in central defence - instead of central midfield - with a back line of Ederson; Khusanov, Stones, Rúben Dias, Gvardiol.

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Graham Hunter

Reporting from Estadio Santiago Bernabéu

The big news from Manchester City, which will echo around the world, is that there’s no starting place for their wonderful goal scorer Erling Haaland. After picking up a knock at the weekend, he’s here on the bench, but it means that City manager Guardiola has had to conjure up a new way to attack Madrid. Unfortunate after the Norway talisman's two goals in the first leg.

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Graham Hunter

Reporting from Estadio Santiago Bernabéu

Up front, you guessed it – the dynamic trio of Rodrygo, Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior, who have precisely 80 goals and assists combined in all competitions between them this season. Rivals, beware.

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Graham Hunter

Reporting from Estadio Santiago Bernabéu

Madrid's defence is: Courtois; Valverde, Asencio, Rüdiger, Mendy.

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Graham Hunter

Reporting from Estadio Santiago Bernabéu

I’d estimate that the midfield pairing of Tchouaméni and Ceballos will play reasonably tightly alongside one another in an approach specifically designed to allow Bellingham to roam and augment the attack when he senses opportunities like last week’s winning goal.

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Graham Hunter

Reporting from Estadio Santiago Bernabéu

Perhaps the only thing to be slightly vigilant about is that Rüdiger is back slightly more quickly than Madrid’s medical team had expected. He’s a brilliant athlete and has been working furiously to be ready, so there’s no need for any apprehension. But this is an all-or-nothing, flat-out night and it will be important for the coaching staff to monitor that he’s coping physically.

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Graham Hunter

Reporting from Estadio Santiago Bernabéu

The return of the big, physically imposing, much-loved Germany centre-half is, in theory, absolutely brilliant news for Madrid. He’s been heroic all season, infects the rest of his team with competitive enthusiasm, wins tackles and headers and the crowd love him.

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Graham Hunter

Reporting from Estadio Santiago Bernabéu

The two in question are Camavinga and Tchouaméni. The former was excellent in Manchester last week when Tchouameni was in central defence. But the return to fitness of Rüdiger means that Tchouameni returns to his central pivote role. The implication, therefore, is that Camavinga starts among the substitutes.

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Graham Hunter

Reporting from Estadio Santiago Bernabéu

Every big-match line-up means good news for some and bad news for others. Tonight the two men in question are France team-mates – one starting for Real Madrid, the other on the bench for the reigning champions.

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This season, solidarity payments to clubs not competing in UEFA competitions will reach €308m – a 76% increase on last year!

That ensures the #UCL's success will benefit the wider game, supporting competitive balance in domestic competitions and improving the standards of clubs' youth training and sporting infrastructure.

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De Bruyne has scored in four of his last eight appearances against Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League.

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Haaland, who has 49 goals in his 48 UEFA Champions League appearances, could become the tenth player to reach the landmark of 50 and the fastest to do so in 49 matches, beating the record held by Ruud van Nistelrooy (62 games). At the age of 24 years and 213 days, he would also be the youngest, beating the record held by Lionel Messi (24y 284d).

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Arrivals time!

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Here's what happened in that inaugural five-goal episode of this fixture.

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City led 2-1 in the 86th minute when these teams met here in their first ever encounter during the 2012/13 UEFA Champions League group stage. After Edin Džeko opened the scoring in the 69th minute, Marcelo equalised seven minutes later before Aleksandar Kolarov netted five minutes from time. Madrid's second-highest all-time scorer, Karim Benzema, equalised in the 87th minute, with the only man to have scored more Madrid goals than him, Cristiano Ronaldo, deciding the game in the 90th minute.

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Real Madrid vs Man City: Who will advance to the round of 16?

Real Madrid

Man City

Graham Hunter

Reporting from Estadio Santiago Bernabéu

I think it’s probably too late now to dream of lifting this beautiful trophy as a footballer – but I do love it when I’m in the same room as the ‘Cup with the Big Ears’. This is what it’s all about. Shivers down the spine.

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Put yourself even more in the mood for the decider here. We can't wait for kick-off.

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Real Madrid took an eighth-minute lead through Raúl at Roma in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 on this day 17 years ago, only to lose both legs 2-1, although only a 92nd-minute Mirko Vučinić goal in the return game put the tie out of their reach. They won 31 competitive home matches that season, taking the Spanish title by eight points and completing a perfect European group stage at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu.

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City twice took the lead in a 2-2 draw at Copenhagen in the UEFA Cup round of 32 on this day 16 years ago. Martin Vingaard secured a point for the Danish side in the 91st minute after Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha had scored for the visitors, who won the second leg 2-1 and beat Aalborg in the subsequent round before being knocked out by Hamburg in the quarter-finals.

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Madrid have prevailed in 20 of the last 21 UEFA competition two-legged ties in which they won the first leg.

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Nottingham Forest - currently immediately above fourth-placed City in the Premier League - beat Hamburg 1-0 here in the 1979/80 final.

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Madrid's first-leg victory was their 300th win in the competition, making them the first team to reach that landmark.

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Tunnel vision.

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The winners of this blockbuster tie will feel the sky's the limit for their UEFA Champions League campaign.

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Who'll have fans off their seats once the ball starts rolling this evening?

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Former Madrid president Santiago Bernabéu, who took up his role in 1943, oversaw the project of creating this stadium, which opened on 14 December 1947.

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UEFA.com.

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Check out highlights from a thrilling first leg between these teams.

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Graham Hunter

Reporting from Estadio Santiago Bernabéu

An eye-catching front page today from Marca. It looks very dramatic, and the text is a warning to Carlo Ancelotti's side: "Overconfidence is prohibited."

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Graham Hunter

Reporting from Estadio Santiago Bernabéu

Here’s Marca’s prediction of how the sides will line up. They envisage Rüdiger’s availability sending Tchouaméni back into midfield with Camavinga on the bench. They think Tchouaméni will go head-to-head with Nico Gonzalez, who is set to make his tournament debut for City.

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Real Madrid vs Man City: Who will advance to the round of 16?

Real Madrid

Man City

New Champions League format

Graham Hunter

Reporting from Estadio Santiago Bernabéu

Finally, the Brazilian, who won five Champions League finals with Madrid, on tonight's challenge against the side he now calls cross-city rivals: "This won’t be easy for Madrid. City have superb players including De Bruyne, Haaland and a wonderful keeper in Ederson but Madrid, with the help of the Bernabéu, are capable of going through. The team have put themselves 3–2 ahead; now the Bernabéu crowd will do the rest!”

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Graham Hunter

Reporting from Estadio Santiago Bernabéu

Casemiro continues: "After we, Real Madrid, played against PSG in Paris it’s true that I phoned our president and told him that we had to sign Mbappé at any cost. He’s one of those footballers who are simply impossible to stop!"

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Graham Hunter

Reporting from Estadio Santiago Bernabéu

Diario AS has secured a big interview with former Madrid midfield superstar Casemiro. He predicts that Kylian Mbappé will score 40 goals for Los Blancos this season, adding: "Mbappé will make football history."

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Graham Hunter

Reporting from Estadio Santiago Bernabéu

Marca points out that the first ever UEFA meeting between these teams came as recently as 2012. Of all the players involved 13 years ago, only Luka Modrić remains at either club and he's available to play tonight. The Croatian midfielder is Madrid’s all-time highest trophy winner; he’s talented and very durable!

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Graham Hunter

Reporting from Estadio Santiago Bernabéu

Marca highlights the news that the European champions' squad list is far more powerful than expected, with Alaba, Vázquez and Rüdiger all fit and available.

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Graham Hunter

Reporting from Estadio Santiago Bernabéu

Diario AS reckons these are the line-ups for tonight's second leg. If correct then the big headline is that Rüdiger, a major doubt, will start. As for City, perhaps it's no surprise that Marmoush is tipped to make Pep Guardiola‘s starting XI after his blistering weekend hat-trick against Newcastle.

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Finally from Silva, on if he'd step up in a penalty shootout: "Definitely, I would put my hand up. I shot down the middle [last season], the keeper was waiting, it's frustrating, but it is what it is, I have no regrets."

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More from Silva, on what it will take to win: "Always believe that it's possible, always believe no matter what happens in the first 20, 30 minutes of the game that we can stay in the tie, and then follow the plan. We know how good they are in running, countering, putting you under pressure in this stadium and we need to deal with those situations."

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Bernardo Silva, Man City midfielder, on Real Madrid rivalry: "It's a mix of emotions; we knocked them out of the Champions League twice, they knocked us out twice. So now it's the fifth time that we go against each other. When you get eliminated twice, it's not nice, especially given the way some of them were."

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Finally from Guardiola, on Estadio Santiago Bernabéu: "I have incredible memories in this stadium. It has never been easy coming here – when I was a player with Barcelona, and after as a manager, or at Bayern or Man City. It's always been tough, we know the history, but we always create good memories, good moments."

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More from Guardiola: "You have to play an almost perfect game [against Real Madrid], The result was not so good [in the first leg], we usually come in to the second leg with a better result, so it is not the perfect situation. We have to attack, we have to score goals. We want to win, so let's see if we can adjust some things that didn't work in the first leg."

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Pep Guardiola, Man City coach: "The pressure is there, but it's more than welcome; you cannot perform well without pressure. [Whether we win] depends on how we play, how we handle the moments in one of the biggest stadiums. The bad moments that you have to suffer will be there and we will try to reduce them as much as possible."

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Possible line-ups and team news

UEFA.com

Finally from Ancelotti, on the past three matches, including the win at Man City and a draw against Atleti: "These have been three demanding matches. We have not only had good results, the team is working well. This gives us confidence and a positive spirit. We have to continue playing well, with quality, but we are also benefitting from sacrifice and collective commitment."

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More from Ancelotti, on Kylian Mbappé's impressive form: "I don't see anything new. He is motivated, physically fit, and he shows it. He handles stress very well before the match, he remains very calm. Right now, he is doing very well."

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Carlo Ancelotti, Real Madrid coach: "We're trying to repeat last week's performance. It's a fun tie where we have to give everything for 90 minutes."

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Finally from Valverde: "I am very happy with the great game we played in the first leg, showing a lot of faith, desire, and motivation. I see how my team-mates are training these days and that gives me peace of mind. It gives me a lot of confidence to be able to qualify, which is what we all want and why we are here."

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More from Valverde, on filling in at right-back: "I have adapted well because I have great role models like Dani Carvajal and Lucas Vázquez, legends who have won everything. I always try to contribute my bit. I am willing to help the team and the coach and, for me, the important thing is to remain in the starting line-up. I am happy to be doing well in another position."

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Federico Valverde, Real Madrid midfielder: "We know how important it is to win tomorrow, but it will be tough. We want to continue growing as a group and achieving things together. We will try to make it a night to remember for all Real Madrid fans, one that brings us a little closer to the most beautiful title of all."

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Jack Grealish is among the Man City players who trained this morning, despite leaving the field with a hip problem last Tuesday.

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Carlo Ancelotti making plans for Wednesday's game.

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Kylian Mbappé and friends in training on Tuesday morning.

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