After defeating Leyton Orient in the fourth round of the FA Cup, Manchester City have already began their prepartions for the next game. Their next challenge lies against Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League knockout stage.
The game will be played at City’s den and the reverse fixture will obviously happen at Spanish club’s home ground. The Citizens will be highly motivated to extract a positive result out of the first leg to get an advantage going forward.
4-2-3-1 Manchester City Predicted Lineup vs Real Madrid
Defence
Ederson is likely to be called up to play between the sticks, sending Stefan Ortega back to the bench. No doubt that Matheus Nunes will be given the right-back role ahead of Rico Lewis.
Manuel Akanji should be deployed at the heart of the defence instead of Vitor Reis to play alongside Ruben Dias. Josko Gvardiol remains the undisputed pick for the left full-back position.
Midfield
Mateo Kovacic and Bernardo Silva are expected to replace Ilkay Gundogan and Nico Gonzalez in the middle of the park. The latter suffered an injury and is likely to regain full fitness for this fixture.
Attack
Phil Foden should be played on the right flank with Savinho providing his electrifying moves from the other side of the pitch. Pep Guardiola is likely to use Kevin De Bruyne as the attacking midfielder for this game.
Erling Haaland returns after a well-deserved rest and will be leading the offensive pack.
Oscar Bobb (leg), Nathan Ake (muscle) and Jeremy Doku (unspecified) aren’t available for selection due to the mentioned injuries apart from Rodri, who remains out due to an ACL injury.
