With both Joao Cancelo & Kyle Walker missing from our 1st leg through suspension & injury respectively; it’s definitely a ‘big boost’ to have one available and the other with a chance of being involved.
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| Santiago Barnabeu Stadium |
Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:
(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 9/11).
Fluid 4-1-5-0 / 4-6-0 / 4-3-3:
_____________________________________________
Jesus__________________________________Mahrez
____________________Foden____________________
________De Bruyne_____________Silva___________
_____________________Rodri____________________
Zinchenko______________________________Cancelo
___________Laporte_____________Dias___________
____________________Ederson___________________
Subs: Steffen, Carson, Egan-Riley, Walker, Ake, Fernandinho, Lavia, Gundogan, Palmer, McAtee, Grealish, Sterling.
Ederson in net, of course.
Although I hope Kyle Walker will be given the ‘green light’ once he’s been assessed for the last time later today; I have to believe that starting an away game at Real Madrid would be too much for the England defender’s recently recovered ankle; not to mention getting back up to match speed fitness-wise. Therefore, I’m going for a back-4 of in-form Oleksandr, in-form Aymeric, Ruben, who I have to say hasn’t looked himself both just-prior to his 6-week injury lay-off and certainly not since his return, and Joao over on the right-hand-side.
Nathan could ‘get the nod’ to play left-side of defence instead of Oleksandr and some of that decision making might depend on how the Dutch international’s hip is feeling following our victory away at Leeds United last Saturday. Nothing has been said regarding it but he did hobble off and looked in some discomfort as he headed towards his manager…
In-form Rodders to ‘sit in’ but I expect him to get some help from any number of our fluid, interchangeable, attacking 5 ahead of him, which I see consisting of in-form Gabriel, in-form Kevin, in-form Phil, in-form Bernardo & Riyad; a player who gets selected sporadically for league fixtures but who played the whole of the 1st leg, grabbed an assist but was guilty of missing 2 great chances and should have passed to Phil Foden but chose to shoot instead; in a game where many have since said we should have scored more than 4! Now there’s something I never thought I’d hear said of us against Real Madrid…
Two reserve stoppers on the side in the form of Zack & Scott; Conrad, Kyle & Nathan are the back-up defenders sat with ‘em. Fernandinho, Romeo, Ilkay, Cole, James, Jack & Raheem are the midfielders / wingers / attackers in ‘the 12’ (5 subs allowed from that dozen).
Notable absences:
- Benjamin Mendy – Suspended by the club until further notice.
- John Stones – I think he was on the plane with his teammates (he is listed as being in a 24-man squad, instead of 23, on his club’s own WEB site) but he’s essentially going for moral support…and a bit of a holiday – the England international has not recovered from a muscle injury in time for this fixture.
Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?
Result? Just one thing I want to note about our host who secured their league title in their last domestic outing (well done to them), which is they have reported that they have one important central defender out injured in the form of David Alaba but have brought back, from injury, a very important defensive midfielder who missed the 1st leg, Casemiro.
I’m simply going to repeat the answer that I gave to a City fan last week who asked me how I thought this second leg would go by predicting a score draw; possibly a 2-2’er and, therefore, progression to our second Champions League final 2 seasons on-the-trot; triggering a second all-English final in 2 season also.
Prediction: N/A
Result: N/A
Expected weather conditions during the game: Dry, sunny, warm. 17 / 18C is the evening kick-off temperature with just a light, north-easterly breeze.
Solidarity
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