Manchester City vs Real MadridCity of Manchester StadiumWednesday, 21st November 201220:45 CET 11:45 PT 2:45 ETconvert to your timezone A visit to jolly old England is up next for our guys. Things on the pitch have been improving slightly and with Sami back in the fold they are about to improve a lot. (j/k........ or not). This should be a great way for Ronnie and Jose to acclimate themselves to the English conditions as their imminent move to United and City respectively is almost upon us. Pipita and Marcelo are the only ones with injuries for us. edit: Jose said in his press conference that Essien is not fit enough to play. For City its a different story. Gael Clichy injured his ankle during Manchester City's 5-0 win over Aston Villa at the weekend and could be replaced by Kolarov at left-back by Roberto Mancini. Joleon Lescott (back) and James Milner (hamstring) are still out for City, with no set return dates from injury. Micah Richards (knee) is sidelined until December, although Samir Nasri and Jack Rodwell (hamstring) is back in contention for a place in the vital match, albeit with slim chances. Matija Nastasic (knee) played the full 90 minutes at the weekend and should retain his place in centre of defence. For a reminder of our last game, i think this will suffice. Mancini's Pre-game Press Conference Maybe it takes pressure off [that we're outsiders to progress], but when you're obliged to win and you play an important game like this in the Champions League there's always pressure. We don't have much chance to go through but it's important to put in a good performance. It was a difficult group from the start and now it's very difficult because of the mistakes we made in the first two games. When you play Real Madrid, one of the best teams in the world, you want to do a good job, play well and win, and that's what we'll be trying to do. I think Cristiano Ronaldo is a factor in every game, as he always has a big impact. Anyone who scores one or two goals a game is an incredible player who we'll need to watch carefully. There are other players, too, of course. My opinion is that Real Madrid are the best team in the world, along with Barcelona, and when you play them you face 11 top players and you need to be aware of them all. Ronaldo, [Karim] Benzema, [Ángel] Di María, [Mesut] Özil, [Xabi] Alonso – they can all hurt you. Madrid score three or four goals every game, but football is good because sometimes you beat teams like that.Congratulations to José, because to have already coached 100 Champions League games at his age is a big deal. But it's not Mourinho v Mancini: it's between the players, they are more important than we are. Jose's Pre-game Press Conference I always said how much I loved my time here and I always love to be back. I know when you play in England you have difficult matches, difficult opponents and a difficult atmosphere, because the crowd are always strongly behind the team. I enjoy that and I think my players are also happy to play in England. I think it is normal if a big team doesn't win the competition because there are other teams with the same power, the same desire and the same responsibility. I don't think it is normal when you are out of the competition at a very early stage. I speak for myself, and if Real Madrid lost a final, or a semi-final, or even a quarter-final, that's football. But when you are out at the group stage it is more difficult to accept and to understand. Last season, they were out [at this stage] and this season I think they will be out again. "If City won [in Madrid on matchday one] it would have been a different story. But we had a fantastic reaction and we won the match and got three points. They are crucial for us to be in a position where we rely on ourselves and are in good shape to qualify". --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Should be a fun game to watch. Here's to the boys getting the 3 points, to Jose and Ronnie finding nice houses in Cheshire and to Mario giving us some more entertainment.
Porteros: Casillas, Adán y Jesús Defensas: Varane, Arbeloa, Albiol, Coentrão, Ramos, Pepe y Nacho. Centrocampistas: Khedira, Kaká, Xabi Alonso, Modric, Di María, Callejón, Özil y Cheryshev. Delanteros: Cristiano Ronaldo y Benzema.
Real Madrid XI: v CIty Casillas, Arbeloa, Ramos, Pepe, Coentrao, Xabi Alonso, Khedira, Modric, Di María, Benzema, Ronaldo
Where the hell are they showing this game? All I see is the ********ing psg game on tv... i'm ********ing pissed man.
how much time to till the game starts? isn't it past 2:45 on the east coast? Sorry, I'm in Costa Rica
Qué hjiueputada, Shay. El moderador mas malparido del foro. But, seriously, I think the recent time change in the U.S. screwed me up, because in Costa Rica, they don't move their clocks forward or backwards ever, it seems. Thanks for the help, and I guess the best results would be a win for us, and a draw 'tween Dortmund and Ajax. I expect Ronaldo to make a big comeback in England. He'll be feeling good to be playing against his old enemy in Manchester.
I'm just kidding Nino, you know that. I'm hoping for a good performance by the team. Its a big game on a big stage, don't want us putting in one of our pedestrian performances.
Please keep the scores from other games out of this thread as some folks want to watch that game afterwards. Thanks.