Man City vs Real Madrid: The semi-final first-leg at Santiago Bernabeu ended in a 1-1 stalemate. As Carlo Ancelotti and his team travelled for the second leg against Manchester City, their journey was not smooth. They had to wait more than half an hour at the arrivals hall of the Manchester airport. However, as they arrived at the stadium where they trained on Tuesday, the coach and the players seemed calm, collected, and ready for tomorrow’s match at Etihad Stadium. Follow Champions League LIVE Updates on InsideSport.IN.
Real Madrid hosted Manchester City last week at Santiago Bernabeu which ended in a 1-1 draw. For the return leg, Madrid travelled to Manchester and reached there safely for tomorrow’s match. However, their journey turned out to be anything but smooth. As they reached Manchester, their team bus was nowhere to be found. Coach Carlo Ancelotti waited at the airport’s arrivals hall. After waiting for 40 minutes, the team bus reached the airport and picked up the Real Madrid team.
When Real Madrid reached the stadium where they did Tuesday’s training, they seemed calm and collected. They did not look frustrated due to the mishap like nothing could break their focus before the all-important match. During the pre-match press conference, Carlo Ancelotti said, “I am very calm, full of hope, full of faith. Tomorrow – game day – that’s when the worries come in and you think things through, whether (Erling) Haaland will score or (Kevin) De Bruyne will hurt you.”
He added, “But I try to put it out of my mind. It is all about managing thoughts. We are very happy to be here, we are feeling good. It is a usual event for us to be in a semi-final. It’s 11 years out of 13 in the semi-finals. That’s not easy… There may be some adjustment from both sides. There are things we can improve but I think they think that too. We enjoy it while we can. These are the best two teams in Europe and I’m predicting an exciting game like the first leg.”
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Real Madrid may have faced some issues while travelling, but they have nothing but the Champions League on their mind at this moment. Barcelona have won La Liga with 4 match weeks left. Hence, they will not have any league-winning match worries on their mind, like Man City. They have also played in the Copa Del Rey final and won the cup. Hence, their focus will completely be on progressing to the final. They also have a lot of experience at such a stage of this competition. Hence, they will remain a force to be reckoned with.
However, Manchester City will still have the odds with them in the second leg as they will be playing the match in front of their home crowd. They have been incredible at the Etihad Stadium this season in all competitions. In the group stage, they scored 5 goals against FC Copenhagen. In the knockout stages, they scored 3 against Bayern Munich and 7 against RB Leipzig at home. Expecting a repeat of such big-margin wins against Real Madrid will be far-fetched. However, considering Man City’s current form, they could still produce something amazing.
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