Ancelotti and Guardiola, two styles that collided in the semifinals of the Champions League. Photo: Reuters.
Manchester City and Real Madrid will clash this Tuesday at 4:00 pm for the first leg of the Champions League semifinals. The rivalry seeks the leaders of the English Premier League and the Spanish LaLiga. It will also be a revival: The Citizens and Merengues met again for a spot in the final for Orejona for the second time in six years.
On that occasion, those from the White House defeated City, led by Chilean Manuel Pellegrini, and eventually won the final against Atlético Madrid at the San Siro to win the first of three. dried apricots consecutively he will win with Zinedine Zidane on the bench.
The current king of Europe with 13 trophies, the Spanish team is looking to continue making history in the tournament, as is City, which seeks to lift its first Champions League.
After losing in last year’s final against Chelsea, the English team is hoping to get into another to try to grab a trophy they can’t avoid, like their coach Pep Guardiola. The Catalan, who has won two Champions Leagues with Barça, has not yet achieved that trophy since he left the Barça team in 2013.
On Tuesday, from 4:00 pm (ESPN) at the Etihad Stadium, Real Madrid and Manchester City will once again seek to take the first step towards the long -awaited Champions League final.
The white team will do it with an eye on LaLiga where they only need one point, which they can get next weekend, to be champions. Italian technical director Carlo Ancelotti, who is aiming for his second ‘Orejona’ in meringues after he won in 2014, is clear that his staff is only focused on the semifinals.
“We don’t think what can happen on Saturday, the closer the league is, we can win it in our stadium and we’ll try and we’re very happy, but on the other hand, we have it. The game we’re looking forward to,” he said. Ancelotti on Monday at a press conference.
The team Meringue He arrives in Manchester looking at the infirmary, where he watches Austrian central defender David Alaba and Brazilian midfielder Casemiro, key to Real Madrid’s deterrence efforts.
The Italian shared breaks against Osasuna with key figures such as Modric, Kroos and Vinicius, but retained Frenchman Karim Benzema, who was a key player in the Whites ’offense.
Benzema, with twelve goals, is just one away to equal Pole Robert Lewandowski as the top scorer in the continental tournament in this edition and on Tuesday the team Meringue he would again place his hope in her to pierce the opposite purpose.
Opposite a City that reached the semifinals after suffering in the quarterfinals against Atlético de Madrid where they could get the victory after a short 1-0 in the aggregate.
City lost the FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool, but came into the game after two convincing victories against Brighton (3-0) and Watford (5-1) in the Premier, where Gabriel Jesús met his self with four purposes.
“We want to compete against them (Real Madrid), it’s a great test,” Guardiola said at a press conference on Monday.
The technician citizens He faced the game with suspicion on the defensive line, where Joao Cancelo was penalized for accumulating bookings and his two natural right-back replacements, John Stones and Kyle Walker, were in pain.
“Kyle (Walker) hasn’t trained for the last 10 days, John (Stones) hasn’t trained since Brighton. That’s why I don’t know if they will train. We’ll see how they feel and tomorrow we ‘we’ll make a decision, “Guardiola said at a press conference on Monday.
possible formations
City of Manchester: Edison; Walker, Dias, Laporte, Zinchenko; Silva, Rodri, DeBruyne; Mahrez, Jesus, and Sterling. DT: Pep Guardiola.
real Madrid: Courtois; Carvajal, Militao, Alaba, Mendy or Nacho; Modric, Casemiro or Camavinga, Kroos; Valverde, Benzema and Vinicius. DT: Carlo Ancelotti.
Referee: Istvan Kovacs (ROU)
stadium: Etihad Stadium
TV: ESPN
With information from the AFP
Source: Clarin
