City out to change perception
MANCHESTER City right-back Kyle Walker is in contention to face Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final second leg tonight, manager Pep Guardiola said, but centre-back John Stones remains unavailable through injury.
Walker has not played since coming off injured against Atletico Madrid in last month’s Champions League quarter-final, and Guardiola said he will make a late call on the 31-year-old’s fitness for the clash at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Fellow England international Stones limped off in City’s 4-3 victory over Real at the Etihad Stadium last week and missed Saturday’s Premier League win at Leeds United.
“Walker trained and he will travel. We will decide tomorrow. He is three weeks without training but happy he is back… (Stones) is not fit,” Guardiola said yesterday.
City will look to reach their second straight Champions League final when they take on newlycrowned La Liga champions Real in the Spanish capital and hope to atone for last year’s loss to Chelsea in the showdown in Porto.
“Two good teams, we saw it one week ago. They are champions in Spain, we are trying to be champions here,” Guardiola added. “We saw in the other game things we have to improve and we are going to try and do it.”
Midfielder Kevin de Bruyne, who scored the opening goal against
Real in the first leg in Manchester last week, said winning City’s first Champions League title would change perceptions around the club.
“We have not won it but winning it would change that little narrative ... It would change the perspective from the outside,” De Bruyne said.
“The fact we’ve been fighting for numerous years and getting to the latter stages means we’ve been doing really well.
“I back my team to perform at the high level needed to win the game tomorrow ... Everybody is anticipating a great game and we will try and bring out the best we have and hopefully progress to (the final in) Paris.”
Meanwhile, Carlo Ancelotti admitted yesterday that Real Madrid will have to gamble if they are to come from behind to beat the Citizens.
“If we sit deep, we won’t concede 99 shots and if we get into their box they are going have a go at us but sometimes you have to take risks,” Ancelotti said.
“In these games we have scored a lot - four against PSG, five against Chelsea, three against City - so we have the quality to take risks.”
Real Madrid showed resilience and fight to come from behind against both Paris Saint-Germain in the last-16 and Chelsea in the quarter-finals, but Ancelotti said they will need more than just character to defeat City.
“You don’t get to a final only with your heart,” Ancelotti said.
“Personality is an important part but you need individual quality, collective commitment - you need all this to reach a final, one of these things won’t be enough to get to the final.”
Luka Modric said the players are convinced they can go through as Real Madrid chase a 14th European Cup.
“We are very confident that we can come back, because we know that in the first match we did not play our best game and we still scored three goals,” Modric said.
“We have the quality and character and the history of this club, having the most Champions League titles, also makes a big difference.”
Real Madrid celebrated winning their 35th La Liga title on Saturday, as the players rode an open-top bus to meet thousands of fans at the city’s Plaza Cibeles, despite the second leg against City being just four days away.
“We really wanted to go to
Cibeles because it had been a long time since we could celebrate a title with our fans,” Modric said.
Ancelotti confirmed that Real Madrid defender David Alaba will miss the game through injury and will be replaced by Nacho Fernandez. But Casemiro is fit again, handing Madrid a significant boost in midfield.
“Casemiro will help us,” Ancelotti said. “His return reinforces us defensively. I think we are going to see an improvement from the first leg.”