Early team news: Full line-up revealed for Real Madrid and Manchester City clash (UEFA Champions League Last-16 Play-Off Second-Leg) | OneFootball

Manchester City return to the European stage and perhaps for the final time this season as they look to overturn a 3-2 deficit against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu.

Erling Haaland’s brace last week must have had many within the Manchester City camp believing that they were on the verge of taking a much-needed numerical advantage over to the Santiago Bernabeu for the UEFA Champions League last-16 play-off second-leg.

However, in the blink of an eye, Real Madrid produced one of their infamous comebacks over Manchester City by scoring through Brahim Diaz and Jude Bellingham during the closing exchanges and take a 2-3 lead into next week’s second-leg.

Pep Guardiola and his players come into Wednesday night’s return-leg knowing that they have no other choice than to attack the Spanish giants, requiring a win by a two-goal margin to progress into the last-16 of the competition.

On the injury front, Manchester City sustained a major blow for the business end of the campaign with Manuel Akanji ruled out for up to ten weeks, requiring surgery over the last weekend on an abductor issue sustained during the first-leg defeat to Real Madrid.

Oscar Bobb and Rodri remain sidelined while Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake, and Jack Grealish all return with a place in the squad that flew to Madrid on Tuesday alongside Erling Haaland – who avoided any serious knee injury during the closing stages of the win over Newcastle.

Ahead of the confirmed team news from the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday night, some initial information has began to filter throughout social media from journalists and sources regarding Manchester City’s starting line-up.

As confirmed by Real Madrid ahead of Manchester City and UEFA’s official release, Carlo Ancelotti has opted to line-up his side at the Santiago Bernabeu as follows:

Starting XI: Courtois; Valverde (C), Rudiger, R. Asencio, F. Mendy; Tchouameni, D. Ceballos, Bellingham; Rodrygo, Mbappe, Vinicius Jr.

Substitutes: Lunin, Sergio Mestre, Alaba, Camavinga, Modric, Arda Guler, Endrick, Lucas V., Vallejo, Fran Garcia, Brahim.

According to the information of reliable Manchester City source ‘FPLMaineRoad’, Erling Haaland does not start for Pep Guardiola’s side at the Santiago Bernabeu as a result of the knee injury sustained against Newcastle on Saturday.

Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola are expected to confirmed their respective Real Madrid and Manchester City starting line-ups around 18:45 (UK) on Wednesday evening.

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