Real Madrid and Manchester City, the winners of the last three editions of the Champions League, face each other in the round of 16. Both teams are worried.
11.02.2025, 07:00
11.02.2025, 08:45
SDA
Real Madrid and Manchester City had not scheduled a European Cup match in February when planning their season. A place in the top eight of the new league phase would have allowed them to skip this knockout round. Nothing else was expected from the two best teams of the last few Champions League years.
However, little went the way Carlo Ancelotti in Madrid and Pep Guardiola in Manchester had hoped in the first half of the season. It was only in the last few games that the two coaches and their star ensemble secured their place among the top 24 in Europe. In the domestic championship, the English side have already all but squandered their chances of winning the title after a historic slump in form. Real Madrid are still well in contention in Spain, but are struggling with many injury worries.
The Madrid team will be without two right-backs and three central defenders for the first leg on Tuesday evening: In addition to Dani Carvajal, Eder Militão and David Alaba, who have hardly featured this season due to injury, Antonio Rüdiger and Lucas Vazquez are also out. In central defense, the trained midfielder Aurélien Tchouaméni and the inexperienced Raul Asencio are therefore likely to be deployed once again.
Akanji also under pressure
Manchester City's injury worries have eased somewhat, even if midfield organizer Rodri, arguably the team's most important player, is still missing. Guardiola is particularly concerned about the form of his stars. Manuel Akanji has also not been at his best of late. The weekend before last, a mistake by the Swiss international was at the root of the 5-1 defeat at Arsenal.
Manchester City's most recent duels with top-class opponents have been lost surprisingly often in recent months. In the past three weeks, the English champions have only conceded nine goals against Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain. It is therefore a bad coincidence that Real Madrid, a team that knows how to exploit their opponents' weaknesses excellently and has a well-functioning attack with the resurgent Kylian Mbappé, awaits them in the opening match of the knockout round.
Fourth duel in the fourth year
At least Manchester City know what to expect. "It already feels like a derby," said Guardiola with a smile. This is the fourth time in a row that the two teams have faced each other in the knockout round of the Champions League. The two defeats - in the 2022 semi-final and the 2024 quarter-final - came despite Guardiola's side being well on their way to the next round. In 2022, Real Madrid saved themselves in extra time with two goals in the final minutes, which Karim Benzema won for the Spaniards. And two years later, Real Madrid defended to win the penalty shoot-out.
While Real Madrid marched to their 14th and 15th Champions League titles in those years, Manchester City secured the most important European Cup trophy after beating the Spaniards in the semi-finals in 2023. Despite the previous history, it would be risky to speak of an early final. The winner of the clash will have a difficult path ahead of them, one that is already partially mapped out. Atlético Madrid or Leverkusen await in the round of 16 and Arsenal, Inter Milan, Juventus Turin or PSV Eindhoven in the semi-final.
Kobel and Fernandes also in action
In addition to Manuel Akanji, two other Swiss players will be in action on Tuesday. Gregor Kobel will play with Dortmund at Sporting Lisbon and Edimilson Fernandes will take on league rivals Paris Saint-Germain at home with Breton surprise team Brest.
