After beating Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-finals and reaching the semi-finals stage, Manchester City are set to make their debut in this stage of Champions league competition. On Tuesday the Citizens will host Real Madrid, the team with the most Champions league trophies.
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
April 26, 2016 • 19:45 • Etihad Stadium, Manchester
Referee: C. Çakιr
Manchester City – Real Madrid Live Streams
In their first ever semi-final match of the Champions League competition Manchester City was “eager” to get Real Madrid, because the Citizens believed that they can develop their game against Los Blancos, especially as the host, but from 10 matches in the Champions League this season Madrid side on even eight of them did not conceded a goal.
About a month ago Real Madrid’s season looked to be a disaster, but in the meantime, much has changed. Real Madrid in the second leg match of the Champions League quarterfinals manage to overcome a 2-0 deficit against Wolfsburg and thus the Los Blancos advanced to the semifinals, while in the national championship, Zidane’s men welcomed a series of Barça failure reduced the gap to just one point in fight for La Liga title.
This weekend, this series was tested really seriously as the Los Blancos were behind against Rayo Vallecano 2-0, playing without Cristiano Ronaldo, but still manage to grab a win most thankfully to Gareth Bale.
Vincent Kompany declared himself 100 percent fit on Monday (25th April) as Manchester City get set to face Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final.
Vincent Kompany, Manchester City captain (asked how fit he is):
“100 percent. Everything went well and as always, unfortunately, when you’re injured you’re having to work a lot harder than the rest. That’s what I did and, you know, 100 percent.”
Manuel Pellegrini, Manchester City manager (on reaching the semi-final):
“I think it’s very important to enjoy the semi-final. It’s not an achievement that we reach every year. I think the players know that. But on the other side it’s very important not to be comfortable just because you’ve arrived at this stage. All the players, the manager all want to go further in the Champions League, to play in the final. We’ll see tomorrow a team that will work not just to play, they will play to win.”
Vincent Kompany, Manchester City captain (asked if the fans can have an impact at the Etihad):
“The biggest because we’re playing against one of the greatest clubs of all time and I think our support tomorrow will be able to make the difference. If they turn up then I’ve never seen a Man City team not turn up when the fans were up for it. So it’s actually an appeal to them – they have to be as loud as they’ve ever been. Otherwise what’s the point in buying your ticket to come in. That’s what we need from them.”
Zinedine Zidane said on Monday (25th April) that he expects Cristiano Ronaldo to be fit to play for Real Madrid in the first leg of the club’s Champions League semi-final against Manchester City.
“We want them to play tomorrow of course. We have the last training session now so we will see. They’re absolutely fine at the moment and have recovered really, really well. I think they’ll be fine. The idea is that they’ll play.”
Gareth Bale, Real Madrid forward:
“I think we’re feeling confident at the moment. Obviously we’ve had not a great performance away to Wolfsburg but it’s something we’ve learnt from, something we’ve corrected. I think we have to go out and play our own game and impose ourselves on the other team. We’re going into the game confident and trying to win it.”
Gareth Bale, Real Madrid forward (asked if he thinks Manchester City deserve to be in the semi-finals for the first time):
“Yeah definitely. If anything I’m surprised they haven’t got here earlier. They’re obviously a club that has progressed a lot over the years and have really become a force in the Premier League and starting to in Europe now. They’ve done very well to this moment and hopefully now we can stop them.”
Probable team lineups
Man City: Hart – Sagna, Otamendi, Kompany, Clichy – Fernando, Fernandinho – Navas, De Bruyne, Silva – Agüero
Out: Toure, Nasri
Real Madrid: Navas – Carvajal, S. Ramos, Pepe, Marcelo – Modrić, Casemiro, Kroos – Bale, Benzema, Ronaldo
Out: Benzema?