The Champions League has reached its semi-final stage and Real Madrid have been paired with Manchester City.
The Final Four
The pairing of these two teams means a third successive year where Real and City face each other at the semi-final stage.
We Meet Again
There will be a certain sense of Deja vu on Tuesday as Real Madrid plays host to Manchester City in the Champions League semi-finals, and with this being the third year in a row in which this will happen, these two clashes also take on the form of a rubber match.
The 2021/22 season saw Carlo Ancelotti’s men go on a one-club tear against Premier League outfits and after getting the better of Chelsea in dramatic fashion in the last eight, they managed to create an even more sensational subplot in the following round against the Etihad outfit.
What looked like being dumped out of the competition, then saw Los Blancos grab victory from the jaws of defeat and with three goals to find in the last minute and whatever else was added on, they managed to find the necessary trio.
Delirium in the Spanish capital, despair for Pep Guardiola’s men and as Real would also then go on to beat Liverpool in the final in Paris just a few weeks later, it also meant conquering the continent for a 14th time.
12 months later, City would turn the tables and after a first-leg 1-1 draw at the Santiago Bernabeu, the stage was set in the blue half of Manchester for the return. A stage that saw them win in emphatic fashion and if there is a way to slay a demon, a 4-0 win on home soil is it.
Victory before their own eventual passage to European immortality and with the Champions League’s defending champions now looking to embark on a second successive hoisting of the trophy, it is an old foe they must face if they are to reach Wembley in June.
The European tale of the tape provides the background history, but it is their domestic form that highlights the present and with Tuesday’s hosts coasting towards another La Liga crown, they have been far from coasting in recent weeks.
When looking at the last 18 points on offer, Real have managed to pick up 14 of them. Then again, it is not just the last six league matches where they have gone unbeaten, their current run without defeat in La Liga stands at 24.
With that said, City extended their own unbeaten league run to 16 at the weekend after their 4-2 win at Crystal Palace and although it is the current longest in the Premier League, it still sees them lie only third in the table.
But now it is time for the first of my two tips and after last season’s first-leg clash was a draw at the final four, I believe we will see another feeling out process in the Spanish capital. With this in mind, I am backing the stalemate at 5/2.
In addition to this, Phil Foden has been the man of the moment for City in recent weeks and although he and his teammates will have to make do with honours even, my hunch is that the England international breaks the deadlock at odds of 9/1.
