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

[Tevez City]

COME ON CITY

 

[Tevez City]

_______________Ortega____________

Rico______Dias______Stones____Akanji

______________Rodri__________

Bernardo___Foden__KDB_______Grealish

____________Alvarez_____________

 

[Gray]

they want to make the atmosphere better, make it more loud.

Good, that should fire up our players.

 

[greek citizen]

Can't wait.We are better than them. Go for the head pep, we can win.

 

[Dialog]

Can't wait.We are better than them. Go for the head pep, we can win.

Lets destroy them at their home and ours!

 

[Blue-Ghana]

Kyle Walker will be a big miss , Rico Lewis vs Vinicius Junior would be a mismatch .

 

[footballmanager]

they will spam vini ball so gotta be ready for that, rico is not that guy, let akanji handle the brazilian

edit: although we might be a man short in that case if gvardiol isnt fit

 

[bluetonium]

I think we take a draw right now, get them back to the Etihad when we have more chance of our defenders being fit.

Their pace and energy is a huge concern for our defence. We need Akanji on both the right and left, not sure how we overcome that. I don't see a defensive line up that I'm comfortable with, we're a couple short at the back and I am very concerned that if they find a way through early it could be a few going in.

Have a sneaking feeling Kev will be benched for this one, although I hope not. If he does play then has to be Foden right and Bernie centre with Rodri, we need our best press resistant players in there. But there's a case for kovacic also in the middle, it may come down to how pep feels we can best handle their midfield energy and bursting runs into the box, and Kovacic may be the more likely to track these, hence why Kev benched is a possibility. I think having Luton at weekend at home is a boost here, hopefully.

That said, playing Kev gives us the chance to counter press rapidly though which could be vital. Haaland has to be on it though. Rudiger will happily take chunks out of him otherwise, and I don't expect a ref who is happy to give a penalty to the away team here for a grapple or shove, and playing around that thug is more profitable anyway. Although we should also be mindful that they have a couple of players on yellows who could miss the return leg if booked.

 

[Bluekiwi]

Why close the roof?

Because they are shit scared of us.

 

[r.soleofsalford]

If it went to pens, I would want Stefan in nets.

I know he`s been fantastic on the financial side of things but I didn`t realise he was a great shot stopper as well.