REAL MADRID vs MANCHESTER CITY | Champions League Playoff 2nd Leg | 19.02.25 | 21:00 CET

🗣 Ancelotti: "Fede Valverde RB? Lucas Vazquez will be back, Fede can be an option. Lucas has had great games." pic.twitter.com/NDP6HlldtV

— Madrid Zone (@theMadridZone) February 19, 2025

 

Hope just lip service to praise LV. Starting him also would mean Tcho at CB and Asencio benched. Our balance would suffer so much.

🗣 Ancelotti: "Fede Valverde RB? He likes it but this was an emergency situation. Lucas Vazquez will be back, Fede can be an option. Lucas has had great games." pic.twitter.com/KAqk3Cfwku

— Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra) February 19, 2025

 

Just got back from the match, and what a great experience and most importantly the quality of the football was fun to see in person.

The crowd loves Ascensio (deservedly) and the communication between the players was constant between Ceballos and the back line.

Mbappe in person when he is feeling it is incredible to watch, as his speed and off ball runs are noticeable.

Bellingham was also just always in the right place. Couldn’t see why he got the yellow but he dominated for certain parts and has a presence on the field.

well worth the 15 hours in the airplane to see Madrid tonight. If we play like this we can win it all.

Edit: Fede was outstanding at RB. He needs to stay there for all of the biggest matches.

 

Man City got humbled by Real Madridpic.twitter.com/WvNpKbqVe1

— Troll Football (@TrollFootball) February 19, 2025

 

Congrats on making it to the next round, @vinijr ! Stop crying your heart out 😉❤️🖤

— Flamengo (@Flamengo_en) February 19, 2025

 

Knowing Carlo I fear he’s serious

I’m guessing our lineup would be Vazquez, Asencio, Rudiger, Mendy; with Ceballos, Fede and Tchouameni in midfield. Asencio and Tchou are lucky Jude is suspended; so Tchou gets to play midfield!

 

I'm crying

 

For most managers injuries are a curse.

Not for Carlo.

 

36:33 : gol de Mbappe
45:32 : gol de Mbappe
56:44 : hattrick de Mbappe

 

Pep's ego first, the team second. I never get tired of watching this guy eat s**t, not starting Haaland some more smartest guy in the room vibes again from Pep. Total fraud, City should change directions honestly. Ran it's course.

ps: Mbappe hitting stride when it matters the most, awesome to see.

 

Raul Asencio vs Manchester City @RaulAsencio7 👏🏻
https://t.co/tlvTsok2Qr

— Real Madrid Info ³⁶ (@RMadridInfo) February 19, 2025

Kylian Mbappé vs Manchester City

UCL ha-trick https://t.co/mwVLAzwoX8

— 10 (@Kylian) February 19, 2025

 

I wonder what the genius who made that Man City banner is doing right now. Probably buried his head in the sand.

 

Eden Flopzard could've taken some lessons from this guy.

 

“He’s probably the most gifted player in the squad.”

Jude Bellingham praises Rodrygo and shares his thoughts on the Kylian Mbappé and Vini Jr. duo ⚡ pic.twitter.com/lzJHc0S3Jr

— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) February 19, 2025

 

Looks like a Ramos regen. Kid is a gem, seriously irks me this club only uses the academy in desperate times. Who knows what else we have there.

 

Besides Mbappe... Rodrygo was monstrous. He's playing the best I've ever seen him. And let's not forget Vini's efforts for the team. The stats weren't there for Vini in this game... but he played hard IMO and the attack played well.

I've also criticized Ceballos... but man he was good today. His work rate and decisions were top shelf.

To me, this is the starting 11 (health and suspensions aside) that needs to play our big games. Has it all.

And Valverde... my lord. What a player.

 

Jude a real one.

Thanks for posting these man, sometimes its difficult to follow up after the games.

 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DGRFM3AxalE/?igsh=MTg5c2Y5cTZ6NGp1Zw==

I love how Jamie Gallagher said that Haaland had "Rudigeritis" this morning and didn't play. CBS sports has the best panel. I feel sorry for other countries where they're stuck with the boring people at TNT Sports (Rio is okay).

 

Ayyy so happy you got to experience it in person!

 

Mbappe's performance was better than anything Messi provided in this competition

 

Last night, I kept saying that Asensio was better than Ramos at his age. I'm not downplaying Ramos—at Asensio's age, he had his fair share of WTF moments. However, Asensio plays with more composure. That said, I'm not suggesting he'll surpass Ramos. Ramos's overly aggressive style often got him into trouble in his younger years, but it was also what ultimately shaped him into one of the greatest defenders of all time. They are actually different type of defenders. I am not going to compare them at this point.

 

Finally got to watch the game, i missed a good one live, the players seem to be waking up and getting it together on the pitch, well done team, well done Carlo we move on...

Raul has been superb but I never understand these comments, who are we sitting to give all these academy players who might be gems the many chances that they will need to show if they are capable at first team level or not , all over the threads we see "we should buy this player, we should buy that one" then we see the worry about giving academy players a chance, we will have to choose one path or the other, IMO we cannot do both.

Only 11 can play , and continuity is key, Raul got lucky that we had many injuries, including youth players like himself as i doubt he was the first choice if we had to go there, that makes perfect sense to me considering how we operate, also senior first team players will always be considered before 3rd division youth players, again, no surprise there...i'm not sure what big team uses academy players with any regularity unless absolutely forced to, this is not unique to us........bottom line we have to win always, IMO we should just enjoy the fact that we have been lucky to uncover a real gem for the first team