1 day ago
5
Key events Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature
The big news for Real Madrid: Kylian Mbappé, the four-goal hero of the 4-3 win at Olympiacos, is only on the bench. He’s got a broken finger as well as a leg problem.
Manchester City’s line-up is less seismic in terms of top line: they name the same starting XI that swatted aside Sunderland 3-0 on Saturday.
The teams
Real Madrid: Courtois, Valverde, Ascencio, Rudiger, Carreras, Tchouameni, Ceballos, Bellingham, Rodrygo, Gonzalo, Vini Jr.
Manchester City: Donnarumma, Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly, Nico, Silva, Foden, Cherki, Doku, Haaland.
Subs: Trafford, Bettinelli, Reijnders, Ake, Marmoush, Ait-Nouri, Savinho, Khusanov, Bobb, Lewis.
Preamble
Real Madrid are sixth in the Champions League table, and second in La Liga. So of course their coach Xabi Alonso, just a few minutes in the job, is already in danger of the push. Of course he is. He could probably do without the visit of Manchester City, then. Not that life is as comfortable as it usually is for Pep Guardiola’s men: they’re currently outside the top-eight places in the Champions League, and while they’ve scored 11 goals in their last three games, they’ve conceded six, and before that were dispatched 2-0 at home by Bayer Leverkusen. This battle between two giants of world football not quite on top of their game kicks off at 8pm GMT. It’s on!
English (US)