Julius OkorieAll eyes will certainly be at the Ethihad Stadium tonight, as embattled Manchester City takes on defending Champions, Real Madrid, in one of the Champions League knockout round play-offs clashes. This is the first leg of their two-legged play-offs, with the second leg billed for 19th February at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.
The Pep Guardiola tutored side, have been struggling lately with insinuations in some quarters that Guardiola’s divorce issue with wife
Join our WhatsApp ChannelCristina Serra after 10 years of marital bliss could be contributing. Though Pep and his men have won three matches in the last five games including FA Cup triumph against Leyton Orient, Champions league triumph against Club Brugge and Premier league win against Chelsea, they nonetheless lost heavily against PSG in the Champions league tie and Arsenal in the Premier league clash.
Manchester City’s last match in the Champions League saw them triumph 3-1 over Club Brugge at home. Mateo Kovacic and Savinho scored in the win.
Real Madrid earned a 3-0 victory over Brest at Stade du Roudourou in their last match, their third Champions League victory in a row this season. Rodrygo led the team with two goals.
Real Madrid’s 15 points placed them 11th in the league phase, while Manchester City finished 22nd in the table on 11 points.
When the two sides last met in action, Real Madrid triumphed 1-1 (4-3 p) in a Champions League quarter-finals match at Etihad Stadium last season. Rodrygo scored the only goal for los Blancos in the 12th minute. Kevin De Bruyne scored the lone goal for City in the 76th minute.
Interestingly, Manchester City have got the better of Real Madrid of late, unbeaten in their last four matches. Real Madrid are looking for their first win in games between the two sides since May 2022. City during that period have outscored los Blancos with nine goals for and five against.
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In attack, Erling Haaland has been a key player for Manchester City in Champions League play. The striker leads the club with six goals, which is tied for the fifth highest among the competition’s top scorers. Visitors Real Madrid have been a threat to opposition teams courtesy of Vinícius Júnior, who has scored on seven occasions in the current Champions League campaign. The striker ranks fourth for goals scored in the competition in 2024/2025.
The visitors have scored in three straight Champions League contests this season. They haven’t been shut out since their league phase loss against Liverpool.
Guardiola is eager to have City remain strongly on course at all fronts, and will be hoping to make a good run of today’s clash. Pep had earlier warned his side on the need to focus for 90 minutes and indeed they can’t afford to lose guard while facing rampant Real Madrid that will be hoping to spoil the party at the Ethihad to make return leg a formality
It is equally important that the Citizens earn good result tonight to stand a chance of surviving the return leg.
In other clashes lined up for today, German Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich take on Celtic, Sporting Lisbon slug it out with Borussia Dortmund, Brest host PSG while Atalanta battle out with Club Brugge at the Gewiss Stadium.
Julius Okorie is Chief Sports and Entertainment Correspondent for Prime Business Africa. He began his journalism career with the Champion Newspaper and Sporting Champion and later moved on to Daily Independent and the Nation Newspapers. Okorie joined Prime Business Africa in 2024 bringing on board 20 years of experience in writing investigative news on Sports and Entertainment. His well researched and highly informative articles on Sports Business and general entertainment are followed by a wide range of audience.
