Who: Real Madrid vs Manchester City
What: Champions League last 16, first leg
Where: Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain
When: Wednesday at 8pm (20:00 GMT)
How to follow: We’ll have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 17:00 GMT in advance of our live text commentary stream.
Rarely do record 15-time winners Real Madrid enter a Champions League clash as underdogs, but this is the situation when Manchester City visit the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday.
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With key attackers Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo injured and set to miss the game and Alvaro Arbeloa’s team in inconsistent form, the Premier League side are firm favourites in the last 16 tie.
Man City beat Madrid in the league phase in the Spanish capital and have strengthened since then with Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi arriving while midfielder Rodri is fit after missing that match during a long-term injury absence.
The two clubs are certainly well acquainted. In the 15 encounters between them, they have each won five and drawn five.
Including the two upcoming matches, the fixture becomes the third most-played in the history of the competition.
Arbeloa calls on fans to get behind Madrid
Xabi Alonso was at Madrid’s helm when the two clubs last faced off in December, but his successor has not got the team playing with more quality or consistency.
Perhaps Arbeloa’s biggest success has been helping winger Vinicius Jr get back into form, and the Brazilian represents Real Madrid’s best hope of success against City.
The winger was key in Madrid’s triumph over Jose Mourinho’s Benfica in the playoff round despite allegedly being racially abused in the first leg by Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni, who denies it.
Vinicius said he felt “a little tired” after beating Celta Vigo in La Liga on Friday as the team leaned on him over the past few matches. They needed a deflected 95th-minute goal from Federico Valverde to scrape together their 2-1 win over Celta.
Arbeloa called on Madrid’s supporters, who have been critical of their own players at times this season, to inspire the team against City.
“We need them. We need them on Wednesday, and they know it better than anyone,” Arbeloa said.
“It’s a Champions League night against a very tough opponent, one of the biggest clubs in the world of football right now.
“Playing at home, we know we’re much stronger when the Madrid fans are on our side.”
Madrid are about ‘fighting until the end’
This may well be the least confident Madrid have been in approaching any of the previous knockout ties with City, even if they would never admit it.
“Real Madrid is about fighting until the end, believing, battling,” Arbeloa said after beating Celta.
“Yes, we could do a lot of things better, but with the personality and character we showed, I hope this can be a turning point and, from here, everything goes much better.”
Haaland working on pace before trip to Madrid
Erling Haaland is expected to return for City’s Champions League trip to Real Madrid after spending the weekend training and working on his pace.
The Norway striker did not travel for City’s FA Cup fifth-round victory at Newcastle on Saturday as manager Pep Guardiola rotated his squad.
It was the second time in three matches that Haaland had been absent after also missing the previous weekend’s Premier League win at Leeds with a knock.
“I didn’t think to let him play, and I prefer him training to make a rhythm,” Guardiola said.
“After injury, when he drops, he always struggles a little bit to have that real, real pace.”
What happened the last time the clubs met?
Nico O’Reilly’s opportunistic strike and Haaland’s penalty helped City fight back to beat Real Madrid 2-1 in a tense Champions League league stage contest at the Santiago Bernabeu on December 10.
Rodrygo opened the scoring with a low shot from a counter in the 28th minute as City looked exposed almost every time Madrid ventured forward in the first half-hour.
But Madrid pressed the self-destruct button, first when goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois spilled a relatively easy header from Josko Gvardiol and O’Reilly converted the rebound in the 35th minute.
Then, eight minutes later, defender Antonio Rudiger conceded a penalty by wrestling Haaland to the ground as he went to meet a cross in the 5.5-metre (6-yard) box, and the Norwegian striker sealed the win with the resulting penalty.
Head-to-head
These familiar foes will face each other for the fourth consecutive season in a knockout Champions League clash.
Real Madrid knocked City out in the last 16 last season, as they did in the 2024 quarterfinals and 2022 semifinals.
City beat Madrid in the 2023 semifinal en route to lifting the Champions League trophy for the first time.
Real Madrid’s team news
Star striker Mbappe is expected to miss out as he continues to contend with a knee injury, so Gonzalo Garcia is set to start up front in his place alongside Vinicius Jr.
Defender Alvaro Carreras will also miss the game with a calf injury, Madrid said in a statement on Monday, without specifying how long he is expected to be out.
Rodrygo will be unavailable after he tore his anterior cruciate ligament against Getafe last week.
Bellingham, Dani Ceballos and Eder Militao have also been ruled out through injuries while David Alaba and Eduardo Camavinga are doubts.
Vinicius Jr, Aurelien Tchouameni, Alvaro Carreras and Dean Huijsen will have to watch their steps as they are all one yellow card away from suspension.
Predicted starting XI:
Courtois (goalkeeper); Alexander-Arnold, Rudiger, Asencio, Mendy; Tchouameni; Camavinga, Valverde; Guler; Vinicius Jr, Gonzalo Garcia
City’s team news
Rico Lewis has missed the past four games with an injury, and Guardiola said he is unlikely to play against Madrid.
“He has a problem with his ankle, a little bit swollen, but he’s nearly back,” City’s boss said.
Midfielder Mateo Kovacic and defender Gvardiol remain out with longer term injuries, but Guardiola said he hopes both will return before the end of the season.
Gianluigi Donnarumma, Ruben Dias, Marc Guehi, Rodri and Bernardo Silva were all rested at the weekend and will likely start against Madrid.
Predicted lineup:
Donnarumma (goalkeeper); Nunes, Dias, Guehi, Ait-Nouri; Bernardo, Rodri, O’Reilly; Semenyo, Haaland, Marmoush
