Marc Guehi and Antoine Semenyo will make their Champions League debuts for Manchester Metropolis as Pep Guardiola’s make seven adjustments for tonight’s conflict with Actual Madrid.
Captain Bernardo Silva, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Ruben Dias, Rodri and Erling Haaland all come into Pep Guardiola’s facet from the facet that received 3-1 at Newcastle on Saturday.
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Guéhi and Semenyo, who turns into simply second participant to play non-league, all 4 Soccer League tiers and the Champions League, had been ineligible for the tail-end of the league section following their transfer to the Etihad in January.
Each O’Reilly and Haaland scored once we received 2-1 on the Bernabeu earlier within the season.
Groups
REAL MADRID XI: Courtois, Alexander-Arnold, Rudiger, Huijsen, F. Mendy, Tchouameni, Valverde (C), Brahim, Thiago, Guler, Vinicius
Subs: Lunin, Gonzalez, Carvajal, Camavinga, Gonzalo, Asencio, Garcia, Mastantuono, Aguado, Cestero, Angel, Palacios
CITY XI: Donnarumma, Khusanov, Dias, Guéhi, O’Reilly, Rodri, Bernardo (C), Savinho, Semenyo, Doku, Haaland
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Subs: Trafford, Bettinelli, Reijnders, Stones, Ake, Marmoush, Cherki, Nico, Ait-Nouri, Nunes, Foden, Alleyne
Guardiola has loads of choices with the 11 gamers that he’s chosen with a lot flexibility within the squad.
It seems to be like Abdukodir Khusanov and O’Reilly may very well be our full-backs, as they had been towards Madrid three months in the past, with Dias and Guehi within the center.
That leaves a midfield of Rodri and Bernardo with probably Semenyo as a quantity 10.
Jeremy Doku and Savinho are our pure wingers with Haaland main the road.
We’ve been right here earlier than!
It’s maybe a curious statistic that we are going to have confronted Actual Madrid extra occasions previously 5 seasons than a few of our Premier League rivals similar to Aston Villa.
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That is the sixteenth time the 2 sides have met within the Champions League – the tenth time in 5 seasons with the second leg to come back subsequent week on the Etihad Stadium. That’s twice as many as every other opponent – the subsequent closest being Bayern Munich on eight.
In fact, it is just three months since we had been final on the Bernabeu when targets from Nico O’Reilly and Erling Haaland secured an excellent 2-1 victory.
The document throughout our 15 encounters couldn’t be extra even over 90 minutes, with 5 wins every and 5 attracts, whereas on the Bernabeu, we have now two wins and two attracts from eight matches.
High of the stops
With such attacking expertise on show for each groups, it may very well be an evening when the 2 goalkeepers must be at their easiest.
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And this conflict sees arguably the best two stoppers on the earth proper now – with Metropolis’s Gianluigi Donnarumma and Actual’s Thibaut Courtois sporting the gloves.
Donnarumma received the Champions League final yr with Paris Saint-Germain, with some notable shows within the competitors serving to him to the crown as FIFA’s Males’ Goalkeeper of the 12 months.
In the meantime, because the 2022 ultimate, Courtois has solely conceded 39 targets (excluding personal targets) from 53.2 xG on track confronted – a constructive differential of +14.2, which is the best of any goalkeeper within the competitors on this interval.
“He’s at all times been taking part in on the high degree and he’s been amongst the very best at school for a few years,” Donnarumma stated forward of tonight’s sport.
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“I have so many issues to be taught from him. He’s carried out on the high degree for each group, he’s at all times been amongst the very best two or three on the earth and for a few years.
“We hope that in these two video games we will do our greatest and I hope that we have now some room to attain some targets however he’s a tremendous goalkeeper.”
Solely Bayern Munich (eight) and Juventus (seven) have received extra Champions League video games towards Actual Madrid than Metropolis (5).
Nevertheless, Metropolis have been eradicated from the Champions League by Actual Madrid on 4 events, the one facet to knock us out greater than twice. That features in every of the final two seasons: 2023/24 quarter-finals and 2024/25 play-offs.
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The final away group to maintain a clear sheet in a Champions League knockout stage sport away to Actual Madrid was Barcelona in April 2011, then managed by Pep Guardiola (2-0 win). Since then, the Spanish facet have scored in 39 in a row, averaging 2.2 targets per match (86 in complete).
Guardiola will take cost of his one hundred and ninetieth UEFA Champions League match right here, equalling Alex Ferguson’s complete within the competitors (190). Following this fixture, Guardiola will solely path Carlo Ancelotti (218) on the record of most Champions League video games by managers.
Coming into the spherical of 16 ties, Metropolis have scored essentially the most targets following build-up sequences (six) within the UEFA Champions League this season, whereas no facet have netted extra following direct assaults than Actual Madrid (4 – degree with Benfica). Los Blancos are additionally ranked first for complete direct assaults (31) this time period.
Kylian Mbappe has scored extra Champions League targets towards Metropolis than every other opponent (seven), together with netting a hat-trick in his most up-to-date look towards us, in final season’s play-off spherical.
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Because the begin of the 2019/20 version (Erling Haaland’s first), solely 4 gamers have registered 50+ purpose involvements within the Champions League – three of which play for both Actual Madrid (Mbappe 71, Vinícius Junior 55) or Metropolis (Haaland 61), together with Robert Lewandowski (63).
Amongst groups nonetheless remaining within the 2025/26 version and previous to the spherical of 16 ties, the 2 gamers who’ve accounted for the best share of their facet’s targets within the Champions League this time period are Mbappé (54% – 13/24) and Haaland (47% – 7/15).