Manchester City have reached their first-ever Champions League semi-final, but the hard work starts now.
Because the next 180 minutes of continental football played by City could go down in their history as they take on the European Cup’s most successful club, the world’s richest football team, Real Madrid .
The Bernabeu club’s strengths, like their glorious history, barely need mention. Everybody knows of Cristiano Ronaldo’s abilities, cutting in from the left. Football fans everywhere are aware of what happens if you leave Gareth Bale to be marked by a 5ft 6in full-back at the far post.
Instead, it is their weaknesses which City must focus on and, more specifically, exploiting them with their own strengths.
1. Cut off supply to Luka Modric
The diminutive Croat has, quietly, been one of Real Madrid’s finest players this season.
Perfectly blending calmness in possession with an ability to ruthlessly spear passes through an opposition defence, Modric can both operate as a circulator of the ball – a game manager – and a deadly playmaker.
That combination is made even more deadly by the raft of superstars playing ahead of him, yet the importance of stopping Modric is not just because he is so good, but because his midfield colleagues have sometimes struggled when left with the creative burden.
2. Target the space behind Marcelo
Indeed, virtually every big team that plays Real Madrid seems to decide upon this as their method to try and expose the Bernabeu’s club’s backline, and some have had success.
The key appears to be pace, with Mohamed Salah repeatedly flying past the Brazil full-back in possession and dragging Sergio Ramos out wide, or sometimes simply waiting on Marcelo’s shoulder to burn him for speed when the through ball came.
Roma lost that tie because of their lack of end product, but should someone like Raheem Sterling (if fit) or Sergio Aguero be able to make the most of those areas then City can get the goals they’ll need to win this semi-final
3. Play a narrow, tall backline
Villarreal, Atletico Madrid, Malaga and Paris Saint-Germain have all kept clean sheets against Real Madrid this season and they did so by keeping a narrow back four.
With the three Spanish sides it is how they always tend to play, condensing your defence to almost the width of the penalty area and relying on an organised midfield unit to cover the exposed areas.
Considering Cristiano Ronaldo is unlikely to be fully fit and mobile, compressing the spaces around him in central areas should reduce his impact.
PSG, playing against a Madrid XI that was severely weakened by injury, used Serge Aurier at right-back to add extra height and physicality to the defence.
This is also key in keeping out Real Madrid because they have two phenomenal headers of the ball in Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo. Even Lucas Vazquez, who could be a surprise starter at the Etihad, showed his aerial prowess to score a towering header against Rayo Vallecano on Saturday.
3 things Manchester City Must do to Beat Real Madrid
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