Incredible exciting match, and I think we are far superior to Madrid (but we've been before, and we have lost). I think Ake's hamstring injury (a week ago) was a blessing in disguise, because Walker came back as a starter. Without that injury, I think our back line against Madrid would be the same as against Bayern, and as brilliant as we were, we suffered on our right side.
Vinicius is the best winger in the world, but this 1v1 against the best is when Walker shows his unique assets and why he is so important for our team. He will need some help if Camavinga plays as a LB, so Bernardo again will be extremely important.
We will dominate them, and their defense is not solid enough. Their press is really low and slow. Watching them today, I fancy the amount of space and the defensive disconnections Madrid tends to have, especially on the LB side.
Two key aspects are gonna be shooting outside the box, Madrid loses their marks and concentration from time to time, so we should have 2-3 big opportunities of shooting outside the box. The other is set pieces. Militao doesn't play, and they have barely any height in their squad. If KDB and Gundogan put some good free kicks/crosses, I think we should score at least once from set pieces.
Another HUGE aspect is the second leg being played at home. Our team has an elite mentality whenever we are behind, whenever the game has been really close, whenever we are dominating, BUT we are annoyingly weak whenever we are controlling the game and we concede a goal. The next 5 minutes of that is a appalling. It's like our players feel entitled to win because they have been so much better for a long period of time. In knock outs this only happens at 2nd leg, and with our fans support, I think we will be fine.
My prediction, we'll dominate both matches, we will creat 3 big chances for every big chance they create, and I genuinely think we will beat them on both legs. Madrid 1- City 3; City 2 - Madrid 1