Dias and Bernardo return for Champions League clash with Real Madrid | OneFootball

Ruben Dias and Bernardo Silva come into City’s starting line-up as we make two changes for our Champions League clash with Real Madrid.

They are the only two changes from the side that beat Newcastle United 4-0 in the Premier League on Saturday with Erling Haaland and Rico Lewis moving to the bench.

City need to win at the Santiago Bernabeu if we are to progress to the last-16 of this season’s Champions League following our 3-2 defeat in the first leg last week.

Nathan Ake, Jack Grealish and Kevin De Bruyne who started the first leg are all on the bench but Manuel Akanji is ruled out through injury.

The match will go to extra time and penalties if we are ahead by a single goal after 90 minutes, and if the margin remains the same after the added 30 minutes, we will go to penalties.

TEAMS

Real Madrid XI: Courtois, Valverde (C), Rudiger, Asencio, Mendy, Tchouameni, Ceballos, Bellingham, Rodrygo, Mbappe, Vinicius Junior.

Subs: Lunin, Sergio Mestre, Alaba, Camavinga, Modric, Arda Guler, Endrick, Vasquez, Vallejo, Fran Garcia, Brahim

CITY XI: Ederson, Khusanov, Stones, Dias (C), Gvardiol, Nico, Gundogan, Bernardo, Foden, Savinho, Marmoush

Subs: Ortega Moreno, Carson, Ake, Kovacic, Haaland, Grealish, Doku, De Bruyne, Nunes, Lewis, McAtee

TACTICS

Pep Guardiola has plenty of options into how he can set up his team which will keep Real Madrid guessing up until kick-off.

In the first leg, Akanji started at right-back and it could be  potentially Adbukodir Khusanov or John Stones who move across from centre-back.

Stones started that game in the holding midfield role but Nico is likely to take on that position after recovering from a knock and impressing against the Magpies.

City also have options of who to go in midfield just ahead of him, with Ilkay Gundogan likely to take one spot and the other possibly going to Bernardo.

That would see Phil Foden and Savinho as wingers with Omar Marmoush, fresh from his hat-trick, leading the line with Haaland not starting.

WATCH: City 2-3 Real Madrid: Highlights

BRAINS TRUST

Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti are two of the greatest coaches in Champions League history and they will be the first managers to face each other on 10 occasions in the UEFA Champions League tonight.

The Italian has won the trophy five times and Pep three times with Ancelotti’s predecessor at Real, Zinedine Zidane, and Bob Paisley the only other managers to win it more than twice.

Both men have huge respect for each other although the Italian joked that he was ‘tired’ of facing his opposite number, with this being our fourth pairing in four years.

In our eight matches so far, Ancelotti has won four matches to two – although his first victories were more than a decade ago when Guardiola was with Bayern Munich.

Pep’s City won all five matches when Ancelotti was in charge of Everton but European occasions between the two best sides of recent years are a different ball games.

Whatever happens tonight, the pair will remain huge admirers of each other and their legacy as two of the finest of the Champions League era will remain untouched.

app coverage

Our official app allows you to follow all of the action from Madrid in one place.

Minute-by-minute text updates are available via our Matchday Centre here with our Matchday Live show also under way.

David James and Steve Howey are the special guests on tonight's show, offering their expert insight before the game, at half-time and in greater detail after the final whistle.

During the game you can listen to live audio commentary from Alistair Mann and Nicky Weaver, while our text commentary continues.

Highlights from the match, as well as a full-match replay [with a CITY+ subscription] will also be available in the UK from midnight or 23:00 the following night around the world.

MATCH STATS

Real’s 3-2 win in the first leg was the 40th time they’ve won the first leg of a European knockout stage tie away from home. They’ve progressed from 37 of the previous 39, failing only against Odense Boldklub (1994/95 UEFA Cup) and Ajax (2018/19 Champions League).

Defeat in the first leg was the fifth time City have lost the first leg of a Champions League knockout stage tie, going on to be eliminated on each of the previous four occasions.

Real have lost just one of their six Champions League home games against City, going down 2-1 in the round of 16 in 2019/20.

City have lost nine of our 27 UEFA Champions League meetings with Spanish opponents, almost twice as many defeats than against sides from any other nation (5 vs French and German teams). Indeed, our nine losses to Spanish teams accounts for 28% of our overall defeats in the competition (9/32).

Real have only failed to score in one of their last 78 UEFA Champions League home games (207 goals scored) – a 3-0 loss to CSKA Moscow in December 2018.

City have lost our last three away games in the Champions League and only once before have we last four in a row in the competition (under Roberto Mancini between 2011 and 2012), while this is already Pep Guardiola’s longest losing streak away from home in the Champions League.

City have lost three UEFA Champions League games when scoring the first goal this season – 4-1 against Sporting CP, 4-2 against PSG and 3-2 against Real Madrid. No team has ever lost four games despite going 1-0 up in a single campaign before.

Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti will be the first managers to face each other on 10 occasions in the UEFA Champions League, eight of which have come while in charge of their current clubs, Real Madrid and Manchester City. Guardiola has won three and Ancelotti won four so far, while the Italian has never lost at home to Pep.

Jude Bellingham has scored more Champions League goals against Manchester City than he has versus any other opponent (three). It’s also the joint-highest number of goals an English player has scored against an English opponent in the competition (Frank Lampard also three vs Liverpool).

Erling Haaland has scored 49 goals in 48 Champions League games, with his brace in the first leg his first ever strikes against Real Madrid. A goal here would see him become the fastest to 50 goals in terms of both appearances and age (24 years 213 days).