Once again, the Champions League tie has become a tradition in the last five years, contested four times in five yearswith the sole exception of the 2020-21 season, claims the prominence of the spring of football. Real Madrid y Manchester City They fly the flag of the highest representatives of the dialectic that has changed the course of this sport in recent times. The whites as great exponents of the most traditional football, that of a lifetime, which they also champion FC Barcelona, Liverpool, Bayern o AC Milan. Opposite, a City elevated to the altars based on multi-million dollar non-refundable investments, like the PSGhe Chelsea of the now banned Abramovich, perhaps in the long run the Newcastle. Let’s see who wins this time.
They are two worlds, two giant planets, that collide in Champions quarterfinals, a round that opens this Tuesday (9:00 p.m.) at the Santiago Bernabéu and will close eight days later at the Etihad Stadium. The last two European Cup champions face to face, the semi-final of the last two tournaments now repeated in advance. Pep Guardiola y Carlo Ancelotti. Erling Haaland y Jude Bellingham. Phil Foden y Vinicius Junior. Kevin de Bruyne y Toni Kroos. “This match is already like a classic,” Guardiola rightly said this Monday. It is difficult to see, today, something better on a playing field.
Real Madrid training prior to the match against Manchester City. / DPA via Europa Press
Madrid arrives rested
Real Madrid arrives rested thanks to the league break for the Cup final, without playing a single game in the last nine days, against a City that has played three games in this interval, which led to bitter complaints from Guardiola. And with the addition that while the whites enjoy a lot of margin in LaLiga (eight points ahead of Barça with eight games left), the team coached by the Spanish coach is immersed in a bloody fight for the Premier: City is third, with one point less than Arsenal and Liverpool.
None of that, however, will matter when the referee François Letexier kick off a new European gala night at the Santiago Bernabéu. Nor will precedents that are slightly favorable to City, although very close, matter. Last season, the English crushed Madrid in the second leg of the semi-finals at the Etihad, avenging the previous season’s elimination in the same round, with those two agonizing goals from Rodrygo. Before, there were two other qualifiers (2015-16 and 2019-20) with a victory for each and a previous match (2012-13) in the group stage.
Guardiola talks to Haaland at a Manchester City match. / EFE
And then there is, of course, the perennial morbidity that Pep Guardiola’s every cross against Real Madrid provokes. It will be the 24th meeting between the white club and the Catalan coach, who enjoys a considerably positive balance: 13 wins, five draws and five losses. “I like this business, I have a good time and they pay me well. I like going to the fields, I like this. I still have a good time and I will continue as long as I do,” Guardiola said yesterday in the Bernabéu press room.
Four Real Madrid fans warned
Ancelotti is forced to keep an eye on the second leg, since the catalog of players who are one yellow away from completing the cycle that entails suspension is premium: Bellingham, Vinicius, Chouamen and Camavinga. “It doesn’t affect me,” Ancelotti said this Monday, always with that feeling of an impassive guy who is not disturbed by anything that could happen.
“Defeat is suffering and victory is a relief. Happiness comes with titles. Suffering is what keeps you alive. Stress and pressure are gasoline for me“, the Italian delved into the preview, in a sequence of sentences that could well serve as a letter of introduction to himself.
“You are not going to miss the line-up, it is quite clear,” Carletto also said, suggesting that he will have his gala eleven tonight. Perhaps the only doubt lies in If Rüdiger will accompany him, Nacho will bet on Tchouaméni in the center of the defense next to the German. For Militao, who anecdotally reappeared in the last LaLiga game, 10 days ago against Athletic, it is still too early.
City, without Walker and Aké
Guardiola has some more doubts, starting with the goal. Ederson He has traveled to Madrid, but he has been absent for four games due to muscle problems and it cannot be ruled out that it is Ortega whoever has to defend the ‘citizen’ goal. In front Neither Walker nor Aké will be there, two of Guardiola’s favorite defenders.
All this before some 4,100 English fansa mobilization that, together with the 3,800 expected from Germany for Atlético-Dortmund on Wednesday, will motivate a police deployment of 3,175 troops in Madrid between the two days.
2024-04-09 06:05:23
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