Manchester City – Real Madrid | 07/08/2020

City recorded an impressive victory when the pair met at the Bernabeu back in February, meaning that Madrid have plenty to do if they are to advance to the quarter-finals of the competition once again. Real Madrid will be looking to overturn a 2-1 first-leg deficit when they travel to Manchester City for the second leg of their last-16 Champions League contest on Friday night.

Manchester City take a 2-1 lead into this second leg at home, with that result forming part of a run of 22 competitive games involving City that saw a winner (W16, L6). Every game bar one during that period saw the team that opened the scoring go on to win – albeit the exception was that first-leg match.

The hosts have won seven straight matches at home, six ‘to nil’, and six despite a -1 handicap. They netted the opener by the 15th minute in the last three, and can boast an average of 3.86 goals scored per game across their previous seven UEFA Champions League (UCL) home matches.

Coming off the back of winning the Spanish title, Real Madrid should be a very different beast from the side that lost the first leg back in March. They won ten of their final 11 league matches en route to that title, netting the opener in every victory, just as they’ve done in three of the last four UCL H2Hs.

Their recent away games have been tight though, and their last six competitive matches on the road that ended with a winner, finished via a one-goal margin. In fact, Madrid last drew a UCL away game back in November 2016 (W14, L3 since)

Pep Guardiola’s side did lift the EFL Cup courtesy of a 2-1 win over Aston Villa back in March, but it would go down as a disappointing campaign if that was the only silverware that they were to secure in 2019-20.

Madrid’s stunning form post-lockdown saw them wrestle the La Liga title away from Barcelona, ultimately finishing five points clear at the top of the table. Los Blancos actually won 10 straight games in the league before ending their domestic campaign with a 2-2 draw at Leganes on July 19.

Zinedine Zidane’s side have had longer than City to prepare for this match; in fact, the English side have played twice in the Premier League since Madrid last took to the field, although it remains to be seen whether that helps or hinders either club on Friday night.

The visitors will be without the inspirational Sergio Ramos for this game, but it has been a real team effort from the capital giants since returning to the field in June, and there is no question that they will fancy their chances of causing problems to a City defence that continues to show deficiencies.

Date: 07/08/2020
Time: 22:00
Venue: Etihad Stadium (Manchester)
Pick for this match:
both team to score “Yes”[email protected]betway  )

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