Man City vs Real Madrid: Second leg preview
By Hidayah Ali
Manchester City and Real Madrid will battle it out for a place in the Champions League semi-final, with their first encounter ending in a spectacular 3-3 draw.
Manchester City will have it all to play for on Wednesday evening, and after such a dramatic first leg, we can surely expect the unexpected as the two sides meet again.
Man City were quick to get themselves a lead last week, with Bernardo Silva finding the back of the net only two minutes into the game.
But going into halftime, it was Real Madrid who had a 2-1 lead. The second half saw Phil Foden and Josko Gvardiol put City 3-2 in front, with breathtaking goals. But, City had to settle for a draw as Real equalised and made it 3-3.
The second leg will require the clubs to fight until the final minute, as both sides will know the difficulties that await from their opponent.
Going into this tie, Man City were still considered favourites despite it being a fixture that could go either way. Now as the second leg approaches, while there a many opinions, City are still the chosen winner by many.
The huge decisive thing to be noted is that Pep Guardiola had many key names unavailable to him last week, and still did well enough to achieve a 3-3 draw.
For this game, Ederson will return for his side, after making an appearance a few days ago against Luton Town, and the same can be said for Kevin De Bruyne.
Nathan Ake could also be present, after being named in the squad that played on the weekend, but it could be possible that Pep could prefer Ake on the bench for this one.
As for Kyle Walker, it still remains a 50/50 chance that he may or may not. While he was included in the squad against Luton, and Pep has assured he feels much better, the manager also insisted he doesn't want to risk any further injury for Walker.
So it could be a possibility that Walker may not start this game, but could be brought on in the later stages of the 90 minutes or extra time if that's where it goes.
Whatever starting 11 is selected by Pep, they will have an immense task ahead of them, but one that these players have proven to be capable of.
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