Manchester City will welcome Real Madrid to the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night as they battle it out in the return leg of the UCL semi-finals. The Sky Blues were held to a 1-1 stalemate in the first leg, so they’ll be looking to dominate in this home encounter.
Pep Guardiola will probably opt for a 3-2-4-1 formation and is expected to keep the Champions League squad unchanged. We can expect Erling Haaland to lead the line while Kevin De Bruyne looks to create enough chances to lead them to the finals.
3-2-4-1 Manchester City Predicted XI Vs Real Madrid
Defence
Ederson will feature in goal for Man City after keeping a clean sheet in his last outing against Everton. Ruben Dias will resume his defensive partnership with Kyle Walker and Manuel Akanji at the centre of Guardiola’s defence as they try to keep the opposition attackers at bay during the game.
Aymeric Laporte will be named on the bench as they wait to shine in the second 45 minutes if needed.
Midfield
Rodri and John Stones will operate in the central areas as they try to dominate the possession in the middle of the park and shield the back three in defence.
Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan will operate just ahead of them as they look to engineer enough chances for Man City to win this contest. Bernardo Silva will operate in the right-wing position while Jack Grealish starts on the opposite flank; both will have to provide support from the wide areas and cut into the penalty box to create chances in front of the goal.
Kalvin Phillips will have to be content with a spot on the bench and might come on to make an impact in the second half if needed.
Attack
Erling Haaland will lead the Mancunian giants‘ line on the pitch’s attacking third. The Norway international will continue his rich run of form and fancy his chances of finding the back of the net.
Julian Alvarez and Phil Foden will be named on the bench as they wait for a chance to catch the eye in the game’s final quarter if Man City needs a goal by then.