REAL MADRID vs MANCHESTER CITY | Champions League Quarterfinal 1st Leg | 09.04.24 | 21:00 CET

We can we just need our players to be clinical and compact.

 

KDB and walker returning will be a big boost to City.

Keeping Madrid'd left flank limited with Walker's pace and KDB's line breaking passes will be dangerous.

The Madrid front three would need to be clinical. Otherwise it will be a long night.

 

What I mean is they most probably are going to be stonger and are at home. While Madrid are basically the same team.

So it is imperative that Vini and co. put their shooting boots on and not be as wasteful as the 1st leg.

 

I’m so sick of Pep and his stupid death star. Almost no one expects us to win at this stage I really hope we can prove the world wrong. Have we ever been so comprehensively beaten (like a 4-0) twice in a row by any team? Let’s hope Carlo has cooked something good the return leg.

 

Absolutely, but I think a lot of people would argue we may have lost last year anyway but the reason we lost 4-0 was how we were tactically set up.

By the way even in that miraculous comeback the year before that, we scored all our goals with Kroos, Modric, and Casemiro all off the pitch.

 

And yet that seems to have been the only thing that has worked for us in all these times trying. Otherwise it’s just draws and losses unfortunately.

 

Important note: when the starting whistle blows and it's 0:0 we are not out of this tie.

 

City last 4 games
4 goals
4 goals
3 goals
5 goals (today)

 

We can stop them, but they are the clear favorites. I know, I know, we are Madrid, but we can't deny reality.

 

They should win

but we can do it

 

Good news is the goals are bound to dry up eventually, they are very unlikely to keep on scoring 4+ goals per game and will lay a goose egg one of these days.

But I have no answers for how to set up the team. I would like to see Brahim, Rodrygo, Modric and Kroos all on at the same time to see if we can't out tiki-tak city (I think we can). Problem is I have Vinny, Ed and Fed as automatic starters and Jude won't be left on the bench either.

 

We have to play the same team the same way but cut out the errors and be clinical. Carlo needs to be very attentive to the levels of fatigue because once Kroos or someone else shows a hint if it they need to be replaced.

 

We have beaten Pep's Barca at Camp Nou and his Bayern team at Allianz. Scored early from set piece in both games (Khedira at Camp Nou and Ramos double at Allianz). Then absorbed pressure and hit them on counter in those wins. Beating City at home is not impossible. An early set piece goal to ruin their gameplan might be the best way. Not having Tcho and Militao not fit enough to start hurts us in set-piece attack as well though.

 

It would be so great if we can get an early goal and keep it tight at the back. Apparently the last 3 times we played at their stadium they have scored early. (First 10 minutes in 2020 and 2022, and at 23 minutes last year).

 

Lets not be so desperate....maybe they seem a bit better than us but this is football...and I wont consider it a miracle if we beat them at etihad stadium...its not like we dont play football....im more afraid how will Nacho pair up with Rudiger.

 

Of course we can win

they are the favorites and should win

but that’s about it

they are not unbeatable
They are not men against our guys being kids

we are Real Madrid. We have a very talented and experienced squad. We have pedigree

I’m confident in our boys

 

We better win, otherwise those oil pricks will get an easy ticket to the final.

 

Of course, he’s the manager. It would be no different with 99% of teams.

No one here believes that City are unbeatabe. But everyone acknowledge that they are obvious favorites.

 

I'm as confident and optimistic as I was prior to the first leg. Not because I expect us to be more clinical or better defensively, but because we're playing Manchester City. In my view, Pep's teams play the same, whether it's home or away. So you can expect the familiar high press, high energy, quick passing, quick movements, possession, etc. We know that and we should be able to deal with it, if set up accordingly. Excluding the Nacho risk (he can come up big, but we haven't seen it this year unfortunately), if the players don't give away silly goals (note: I said goals, not chances), then I expect it to be a very close game, as both teams are close to each other in terms of quality. Having said this, City are close favourites.

 

Let's talk about the 2nd leg
How do we handle the Blitz of the first 30 minutes with 7-8 city players seating on our goal ?
What is the solution for that ?
Last season 1st Half:
316 passes vs 99
13 shots vs 1
72% possession vs 28%

 

I’m fed up of hearing about city and guardiola, I’ll be happy when the tie is over and we can move on.

 

F it.

Rodrygo---Vinicius---Brahim

Camavinga---Bellingham---Modric---Valverde

Nacho---Rudiger---Carvajal​