Manchester City has drawn Real Madrid as their opponent in the last 16 of the Champions League. The Spanish giants led by football legend Zinedine Zidane will be a fantastic test for City. But more importantly, it will be the moment where everyone finds out whether Pep Guardiola’s changes have worked or not.
Manchester City Draw Tasty Real Madrid Fixture in UCL
Manchester City Opponent
Don’t look now, but this isn’t the same Real Madrid from last season. Gone is the post-Cristiano Ronaldo hangover and in are some quality new players that have Madrid tied atop La Liga. But their success this season has not been about the new signings they spent over 300m on this summer.
Their success this season starts with Karim Benzema. The Frenchman has been lights out for 18 months now and already has 16 goals this season. Madrid has also gotten another great season from Casemiro and Raphael Varane, which has been immense. The pair were uncharacteristically poor last season, but have since returned to their world-class best.
The real surprise about Madrid’s season has come from their plethora of summer signings. Eden Hazard and Luka Jovic have combined for two La Liga goals. Ferland Mendy & Eder Militao have been platoon players, but there has been one summer signing holding his weight and more.
Rodrygo Goes may be the best Brazilian prospect since Neymar. Out of the same famous Santos academy, Goes has been under Europe’s eye for a couple of years. Madrid paid around 45m to secure his service over 18 months ago. Now he is already Madrid’s second-leading scorer and has been Madrid’s most dangerous creative player for over two months.
Madrid’s Weaknesses
The easiest place for Manchester City to attack Madrid will be in the midfield. Everyone knows the midfield of Casemiro, Toni Kroos, and Luka Modric are not getting any younger. Playing those three could be fatal against Manchester City’s vaunted press.
But Zidane should be smarter than that. He has been playing Federico Valverde with two of those three for the last few months. It has actually worked quite well, balancing out the technique with some young legs.
Man City will need to turn them over and get at Madrid’s defence. With Marcelo & Sergio Ramos likely starting the City right will be a great place to focus the attack. Theoretically, this plays right into Riyad Mahrez hands.
Manchester City Chance
Most of all this game represents the biggest test that Manchester City has ever faced in Europe. This is a knockout game, against a European Giant; Manchester City need to make this tie to be the spark that lights their European fire.
It’s impossible to tell how these teams will be playing when they actually meet up. And it goes without saying that a large part of predicting this game will come down to who is playing and how well they’re playing come February. But at this crucial point in the project, it really doesn’t matter; Manchester City needs to beat Real Madrid.
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