Real Madrid face Manchester City in what promises to be a thrilling Champions League quarter-final first leg in the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on Tuesday night.
Real Madrid go into the game with an eight-point lead at the top of La Liga and looking to avenge last season’s 5-1 aggregate humiliation at Manchester City’s hands, which saw them completely outplayed and suffering a 4-0 loss in the Etihad Stadium in the return leg.
Apart from injured goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois, Carlo Ancelotti has an almost full squad to choose from, with central defender Eder Militao available again after recovering from the cruciate knee ligament injury he suffered in the first game of the season in August.
Vinicius Jr will also start, with the Brazilian making his first appearance for the club in almost a month after missing Real Madrid’s first league game after the international break due to suspension.
There was no league program in Spain at the weekend due to the celebration of the Copa del Rey final between Athletic Club Bilbao and Mallorca, and Ancelotti has been able to spend the past nine days preparing for the game. That is a very different situation to Manchester City, who not only played Crystal Palace in London on Saturday lunchtime, but also had a midweek fixture at home to Aston Villa as they look to retain their Premier League title.
Pep Guardiola has attempted to rotate his squad over the past week, with Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva resting on Saturday, to try and keep his key players as fit as possible, but is unlikely to have central defender Nathan Ake available with a muscle injury, while Kyle Walker, whose pace is vital to try and stop Vinicius, is doubtful due to a thigh injury he suffered while playing for England.
Guardiola revealed at the weekend that goalkeeper Ederson will be available after injury, but that he will have a difficult decision to make after recent good performances from Stefan Ortega.
“I haven’t seen much of Real Madrid, I will have to talk to my technical staff, who have seen more games than me,” commented the coach.
