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Rabat – Manchester City will take on Real Madrid in a classic UEFA Champions League game tonight. The two European giants are set to meet in the first leg of their play-off tie at the Etihad Stadium at 9 p.m. Moroccan time.
Fans can catch the action live on BeIN Sports Arabic 1, BeIN Sports English 1, Canal+Foot, and M+Liga de Campeones.
City scraped through to the UCL play-off with a crucial 3-1 win at home over Club Brugge, finishing a lowly 22nd in the league phase.
Pep Guardiola’s side are nowhere near their usual attacking heft. A disastrous league campaign has left them shuffling behind Liverpool, Arsenal, and Nottingham Forest.
Rodri is still out with an ACL injury. Both Ruben Dias and Jeremy Doku are back, but Nathan Ake remains a doubt. January signing Vitor Reis was left out of the UCL squad, while Nico Gonzalez is struggling with a knock.
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Real Madrid, on the other hand, sit atop La Liga table but have struggled to deliver consistent results with a growing list of injured personnel. Defensively, they are in crisis. Lucas Vasquez. Antonio Rudiguer, David Alaba, and Eder Militao are all unavailable.
Los Blancos s side have been inconsistent in the UCL, winning just five of their eight group matches. A slow start saw them lose three of their first five games late to qualify for the play-offs.
Carlo Ancelotti may have to patch-up his backline again. Federico Valverde is expected to slot in at right-back to cover for ACL-injured Dani Carvajal and Vasquez, while Luka Modric and Camavinga could start in midfield ahead of struggling Aurélien Tchouamini.
City and Madrid have faced off 14 times in the champions league. The record is pretty tight: Manchester won five times and drew five. Real won on four occasions.
Last season, Madrid won a dramatic quarterfinal at the Etihad, with Rudiger scoring the decisive penalty in a thrilling 4-3 shootout win.
Predicted lineups:
Manchester City: Ederson; Nunes, Akanji, Stones, Gvardiol; Silva, De Bruyne, Foden; Marmoush, Grealish, Haaland.
Real Madrid: Courtois; Valverde, Tchouameni, Asencio, Garcia; Modric, Bellingham, Rodrygo; Mbappe, Vini Jr.
Predicted Score:
City can’t defend, and Madrid have no defenders. This surely won’t be a 0-0 game. Both teams have enough firepower up front to turn this game into a goals galore experience.
Manchester City 2-2 Real Madrid
