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Kylian Mbappé’s absence leaves a 13-goal-shaped hole in Real Madrid’s team. He’s the competition’s leading scorer by some considerable distance, give or take one 43-minute four-goal scoring burst during the Qarabag-Newcastle tie.
13: Kylian Mbappé (Real Madrid)
10: Anthony Gordon (Newcastle United)
8: Harry Kane (Bayern Munich)
7: Julian Alvarez (Atletico Madrid), Erling Haaland (Manchester City), Victor Osimhen (Galatasaray)
The team news is a tale of two superstar strikers. Kylian Mbappé hasn’t recovered from his knee problem and is missing from the Real Madrid squad altogether. Erling Haaland however is back for Manchester City after being rested in the precautionary style for the FA Cup win at Newcastle last weekend.
The teams
Real Madrid: Courtois, Alexander-Arnold, Rudiger, Huijsen, Mendy, Valverde, Tchouameni, Brahim, Thiago, Guler, Vinicius Jr.
Subs: Lunin, Gonzalez, Carvajal, Camavinga, Gonzalo, Ascencio, Garcia, Mastantuono, Aguado, Cestero, Angel, Palacios.
Manchester City: Donnarumma, Khusanov, Dias, Guéhi, O’Reilly, Rodri, Silva, Savinho, Semenyo, Doku, Haaland.
Subs: Trafford, Bettinelli, Reijnders, Stones, Ake, Marmoush, Cherki, Nico, Ait-Nouri, Nunes, Foden, Alleyne.
Preamble
For the fifth season in a row, Manchester City face Real Madrid in the knockout phase of the Champions League. Real have had the best of it during this sequence, winning in last season’s play-offs, the 2024 quarters and the 2022 semis … but City did emerge victorious in the 2023 semis, in some style, with a four-goal thrashing at the Etihad, and there’s also the small matter of the come-from-behind win at the Bernabeu during this season’s league phase. Tot everything up historically – five wins apiece from 15 meetings, City leading the aggregate score 26-25 – and this relatively modern rivalry is closely contested. Here comes the next chapter, then; good luck calling it. Kick-off is at 8pm GMT. It’s on!
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