Champions League, Man City vs Real: Preview, Dream11 and more
Manchester City will be aiming to oust Real Madrid when the two sides meet at the Etihad in the second leg of their Champions League round of 16 encounter. City enjoyed a 2-1 away win in the first leg but will have to prove themselves once again to eliminate the record champions. La Liga 2019-20 champions Real have work to do. Here's more.
City are set to be without Sergio Aguero and left-back Benjamin Mendy. One expects to see Joao Cancelo fill in Mendy's position. For Real, Sergio Ramos will miss the match after picking up a red card in the first leg. Gareth Bale and James Rodriguez have not travelled with the team. Meanwhile, Marco Asensio and Eden Hazard have been training of late.
City manager Pep Guardiola said, "We want to take the game to certain areas of the field where we can hurt Madrid and show the qualities of our players." Meanwhile, Real boss Zinedine Zidane claimed, "It's going to be great match between two excellent teams. It's a final, so if we want to get to the final we have to win this."
City kept seven clean sheets in the last nine league games of the 2019-20 campaign to finish things strongly. The hosts have played an attacking brand of football and hit 100-plus goals in the Premier League. Meanwhile, Real maintained a superb record since the restart in June. La Liga champions conceded the fewest goals in the 2019-20 campaign across Europe's top domestic leagues.
Dream11 team prediction (4-3-3): Ederson; Walker, Laporte, Varane, Marcelo; De Bruyne (c), Kroos, Gundogan; Hazard, Benzema (vc) and Sterling. Match prediction: We are expecting the match to end in a 1-1 draw. The match is set to start at 12:30 AM IST. One can watch the match live on the Sony Ten Network.
