La Liga sides will face a tough test if they are to progress beyond the semi-finals of both the Champions League and the Europa League withReal Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Villarreal and Sevilla taking onManchester City, Bayern Munich, Liverpool and Shakhtar Donetsk respectively.
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This time Sheikh Mansour’s side go up against Roman Abramovich’s.
Despite the club’s Premier League title hopes being all but over, the Citizens still have an enthralling last-four clash against Madrid to look forward to in the European elite-club competition! His performances this season have been superb and epitomised by scoring the goal against PSG that would eventually take them through.
The final takes place in Basel, Switzerland, on 18 May.
And key to City’s success was Kevin De Bruyne – a player Chelsea sold in 2014 after barely giving the Belgium global a chance in London.
Following a 4-o Barclays Premier League victory on Saturday at Bournemouth, Manchester City had a little momentum going into their UEFA Champions League quarterfinal match-up with French giants Paris Saint-Germain. All three remaining teams present a hard – and different – proposition for City, but despite their offensive power there is a vulnerability and skittish quality to Real from a defensive standpoint.
Diego Costa is available for Chelsea following suspension.
However he also shared good news in the fact that Gary Cahill and Nemanja Matic are back fit.
“The semi-finals of the Champions League is only for the big teams”.
The Pensioners have had a awful run of form in the Premier League this season, having started the year as the defending champions, they are now tenth in the league table, with a mere 11 wins under their belt in 32 games played so far.
Kevin de Bruyne has played a starring role since moving from Wolfsburg in the summer. He’s a very good player, he’s been showing it for a few years now in the Premier League and even before that in Spain and with the national team so we know what he can do.
Chelsea go into the match 10th in the league, 13 points adrift of fourth-placed City.
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However, the German must be delighted that just six months into his reign, he now has the scent of silverware (and the Champions League qualification spot it would bring) firmly in his nostrils.
