Real Madrid (A) - Tues 9th April, 20:00 | CL | Pre-Match Thread

[pride in battle]

Surely Kev was never going to start after Saturday playing the full 90

 

[Mattyc55]

Not the best balance against decent teams to be fair.

Agreed

 

[pete73]

Already moved the sofa away from the wall so there's enough room to watch the TV from behind it.

Behind the TV?

 

[Claytop]

Gonna be a lonely night for Haaland…

 

[Dialog]

No Kev, no party for Haaland. We should have just played Alvarez as a striker then, so he can press hard.

 

[YatesA]

Like people have mentioned, we are missing our best 1v1 defenders so to give the defence more protection and it being a 2 legged affair and a draw being a good result, leaving the player with the lowest engine out makes sense. Bring KDB on with about 25 against more tired legs and let him get a potential match winner.

 

[ninjamonkey]

Very happy kovacic is in. we had to have him in midfield if we didn't want to be wide open. Huge surprise kdb is benched, big call, can't say I agree with it but time for Phil to show us what he's made off on the true big stage.

 

[paulchapo]

Ortega gets the nod over Ederson...Massive call that.

Ederson had been getting a bit erratic with some of his decision making, culminating in the penalty and his injury against Liverpool. Ortega has done nothing wrong since stepping in so he deserves to keep his place.

 

[city warrior]

Love the team. We need control and suffocate them. We still have creativity with Phil, and both Rodri and Phil can score from the outside at any moment. KDB can get in when Madrid is a little more tired and transitions are not as dangerous anymore (around 60-70 min).

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Ake's a crowd favorite but, IMO, he isn't better than Gvardiol at LB in terms of the whole package. Gvardiol is better on the ball and has the stamina to run up and down the pitch. Ake works as hard as he can but, IMO, he lacks Gvardiol's stamina.

Gvardiol lacks his pace which is crucial in games like this.