Real Madrid head coach Zinedine Zidane expressed hope on Tuesday that both Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema will be fit for their Champions League semi-final second leg against Manchester City.
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Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo watches the math at the bench during the Champions League semifinal soccer match between Manchester City and Real Madrid, at the City of Manchester stadium in Manchester, England, Tuesday, April 26, .
Madrid drew two fine saves from City goalkeeper Joe Hart as Casemiro and Pepe sent late set-pieces goal-wards, but were unable to unlock a stubborn defence.
Next week, City will nearly certainly not want to start the game with two strikers on the pitch, and so Pellegrini will have to adjust his plans for the next leg to accommodate the loss of Silva’s creativity in midfield. “From the moment we manage to score in Madrid, it will be very different”, he said. “We did not create clear chances to score”. “It is going to be a hard game, we know that, but one we are confident about and looking forward to”.
He said City “play away very similarly to how we play at the Etihad”.
Since Man City managed to refuse Madrid any goals, they hold advantage heading into the second-leg at Bernabeu.
“It’s a hard game against Southampton”, said Pellegrini. “It is hard to say now”.
Ronaldo’s mother, Dolores Aveiro, claimed that her son will have recovered in time to play against City while speaking at the launch of a biography about herself.
Crucially that meant Madrid do not have any away goals to take into the return leg, a big bonus for City, and Balague says that Manuel Pellegrini’s side will be the happier with the result. We tried from the beginning to win – we pressed high – but we were not very creative. At the Bernabéu, we’ll have to give everything to get to the final.
Pellegrini’s line-up at St Mary’s could be interesting given the widespread changes he made after complaining about fixture congestion ahead of February’s FA Cup clash at Chelsea.
Bale was frustrated not to have found a victor, especially having felt both he and Lucas Vazquez should have had penalties, but was upbeat about the 10-time champions’ chances of making the Milan finale. I think it will be another evenly contested game and a very hard one. “It has not been easy”. “But in terms of intent, we had most intent to win the game”.
Bayern have scored the most goals in the Champions League knock-outs among the four teams left while Atletico have conceded the least.
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Real Madrid were without three-time Ballon D’Or victor Cristiano Ronaldo while striker Karim Benzema lasted only 45 minutes after missing the game at the weekend with Rayo Vallecano. We don’t want to gamble with his fitness.
