In a few minutes the second leg fixture of this epic encounter will begin with both teams doing all they can to return their star players that had injury scare back in full truttle, who will conquer and join Atletico de Madrid in the finals? We will find out after the next two or three hours
The teams are out! Real Madrid are in their famous meringue-white shirts, while Manchester City will play in third-choice neon green. It’s hardly news to report that there’s a crackling atmosphere at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu for this European Cup semi-final. The home side are looking for their 11th title in this competition, while City are still seeking their first. But of course there’s always a first time for everything, as Leicester City can attest.
Marina Hyde is already looking forward to the film of the fairytale . But we digress. This is on! We’ll be off in a minute!
Just a reminder of the result from the first leg:
Manchester City 0.576734 -
0.972312 Real Madrid. That’s according to the Expected Goals model. For those of you who haven’t been experimenting with Kool-Aid or freebasing snake oil, it was 0-0. Another goalless draw is the only scoreline that’d take us into extra time and possible penalty kicks tonight, away goals and all that.
The big news for Real Madrid ? You know the big news for Real Madrid: Cristiano Ronaldo is back! He’s one of three changes to the XI that started in Manchester last week: Isco and Jese are the others who make the step up. Lucas Vazquez drops to the bench, while Casemiro and Karim Benzema are injured.
City meanwhile name the same XI who began the first leg, with one exception. The hamstrung David Silva is replaced by a refreshed Yaya Toure. For the record, there are eight changes to the team sent out for the fiasco at Southampton at the weekend. Not that absolutely everyone had an off day: let’s hope we still see the in-form and extremely promising Kelechi Iheanacho at some point tonight.
Tonight's teams
Real Madrid: Navas, Carvajal, Pepe, Ramos, Marcelo, Modric, Kroos, Isco, Jese, Ronaldo, Bale.
Subs: Casilla, Varane, James Rodriguez, Kovacic, Lucas Vazquez, Danilo, Mayoral.
Manchester City: Hart, Sagna, Kompany, Otamendi, Clichy, Fernando, Fernandinho, Toure, Navas, De Bruyne, Aguero.
Subs: Caballero, Mangala, Kolarov, Delph, Sterling, Bony, Iheanacho.
Referee: Damir Skomina (Slovenia)
In a few minutes the second leg fixture of this epic encounter will begin with both teams doing all they can to return their star players that had injury scare back in full truttle, who will conquer and join Atletico de Madrid in the finals? We will find out after the next two or three hours
The teams are out! Real Madrid are in their famous meringue-white shirts, while Manchester City will play in third-choice neon green. It’s hardly news to report that there’s a crackling atmosphere at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu for this European Cup semi-final. The home side are looking for their 11th title in this competition, while City are still seeking their first. But of course there’s always a first time for everything, as Leicester City can attest.
Marina Hyde is already looking forward to the film of the fairytale . But we digress. This is on! We’ll be off in a minute!
Just a reminder of the result from the first leg:
Manchester City 0.576734 -
0.972312 Real Madrid. That’s according to the Expected Goals model. For those of you who haven’t been experimenting with Kool-Aid or freebasing snake oil, it was 0-0. Another goalless draw is the only scoreline that’d take us into extra time and possible penalty kicks tonight, away goals and all that.
The big news for Real Madrid ? You know the big news for Real Madrid: Cristiano Ronaldo is back! He’s one of three changes to the XI that started in Manchester last week: Isco and Jese are the others who make the step up. Lucas Vazquez drops to the bench, while Casemiro and Karim Benzema are injured.
City meanwhile name the same XI who began the first leg, with one exception. The hamstrung David Silva is replaced by a refreshed Yaya Toure. For the record, there are eight changes to the team sent out for the fiasco at Southampton at the weekend. Not that absolutely everyone had an off day: let’s hope we still see the in-form and extremely promising Kelechi Iheanacho at some point tonight.
Tonight's teams
Real Madrid: Navas, Carvajal, Pepe, Ramos, Marcelo, Modric, Kroos, Isco, Jese, Ronaldo, Bale.
Subs: Casilla, Varane, James Rodriguez, Kovacic, Lucas Vazquez, Danilo, Mayoral.
Manchester City: Hart, Sagna, Kompany, Otamendi, Clichy, Fernando, Fernandinho, Toure, Navas, De Bruyne, Aguero.
Subs: Caballero, Mangala, Kolarov, Delph, Sterling, Bony, Iheanacho.
Referee: Damir Skomina (Slovenia)
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