UEFA Champions League 2023-24: Manchester City (MCI) vs Real Madrid (RMA) quarter-finals 2nd leg Match Preview

Manchester City will be back home facing Real Madrid in the 2nd leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals. The first leg was entertaining when these two teams met at Santiago Bernabeu as the game ended in a 3-3 draw with some amazing goals scored in the second half of the game. The match was end to end and exciting to watch, as the fans hope for a similar kind of game on Wednesday with all to play for the spot in the semi-finals.

City are currently the defending champions of the UCL and the Los Blancos have defeated every reigning champions at home after they won the UCL the previous seasons. Carlo Ancelotti's side will look to do something similar at the Etihad Stadium and qualify for the semis. However, the Sky Blues will be back with their full squad in the game against the most successful UCL side of all time. With Ederson back in goal and Kyle Walker coming back in the side it will be a huge boost. 

Madrid will be missing Aurelien Tchoumeni for the return leg, as the midfielder turned centre back will miss the game as he has been suspended for the game after picking up a yellow card in the first leg. Pep Guardiola's side had a fantastic outing against Luton Town in their last game and sat at the top of the table. 

Manchester City vs Real Madrid: Prediction

Erling Haaland's form has been a headache for the side as he is having a rough patch, however scoring from the spot against Luton but he failed to find any kind of opening other than that in the whole game. He currently is the leading scorer in the Premier League, but he might need to turn up big on the UCL night to answer the critics as he failed in the first leg to touch a lot of balls, with Antonio Rudiger making sure he did not get any kind of space. 

Madrid's season has been with ups and downs despite sitting on the top of the LA Liga table they have some concerns in the back ahead of the second leg as Eder Militao who just returned to full training might have to start, otherwise, Nacho Fernandez will be an option at the back which can strike back with quality of City's attacking front. 

Prediction: 3-0 Manchester City 

Injury and Suspension Concern 

Manchester City 

No players injured

Real Madrid 

David Alaba, Thibaut Courtois

Probable Playing XI  

Ederson, Kyle Walker, John Stones, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol, Rodri, Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva, Jack Grealish, Erling Haaland

Real Madrid

Andriy Lunin, Dani Carvajal, Antonio Rudiger, Nacho, Ferland Mendy, Toni Kroos, Federico Valverde, Eduardo Camavinga, Rodrygo, Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Junior