Three talking points ahead of Manchester City vs Real Madrid | Champions League | OneFootball

Real Madrid won five of their eight UEFA Champions League games in the newly-introduced league phase this season. Three defeats in the remaining games, however, cost them precious points and left them hanging on a tally of 15 points.

One extra point would have been enough for Los Blancos to coast into the Round of 16 directly, but they now must play an extra playoff round to determine if they are to progress.

Their opponent for the extra two-legged tie, surprisingly, is Manchester City who had a dismal run in the UCL and escaped from the jaws of elimination on the final matchday.

The first of the two legs is scheduled to kick off on Tuesday night in England as both teams fight it out for a place in the knockout stages of the competition. The Merengues may be favourites in terms of form, but the opponents boast of a squad of serious quality.

Madrid Universal brings you three talking points ahead of Manchester City vs Real Madrid.

The away leg

Tomorrow night, Real Madrid take to the field at the Etihad Stadium against Manchester City indeed, but the game will be special because it will be the first clash played by Los Blancos over two legs this season.

Over the years, Real Madrid have proven to excel at managing games played spaced over time and are the kings of winning on aggregate even if they end up at a disadvantage after 90 minutes of action.

Playing a two-legged game after a significant period of time, it is critical that Real Madrid once again showcase their skill of managing each game to their advantage. With the reverse fixture at the Santiago Bernabeu, tomorrow’s game will be more about control.

While Carlo Ancelotti’s men will indeed look to kill the game if possible given Manchester City’s poor form, it is critical that they stay focused and not allow themselves to fall into a deficit of any sort.

After all, even a draw from the away leg is not a bad result and will hand Real Madrid the advantage heading into the decisive home leg.

Testing the depth

Selection headaches for Ancelotti. (Photo by Molly Darlington/Getty Images)

Ancelotti has found himself in an acute shortage of defensive resources in recent weeks and is thus in neck-deep water.

With Eder Militao, David Alaba, and Antonio Rudiger all unavailable, the manager has been forced to rely on academy breakout talents Raul Asencio and Jacobo Ramon in recent games along with Aurelien Tchouameni.

If the lack of depth at centre-back was not enough, the team heads into the UCL game tomorrow without a fit right-back after Lucas Vazquez injured himself and is ruled out for three weeks.

Ancelotti thus has serious questions to answer ahead of kickoff for the lineup does not pick itself given the number of uncertainties. Federico Valverde is an option to play at right-back, but using the star player in defence robs the team of a crucial midfield presence.

It will thus be interesting to see how the Italian gaffer manages his squad against the Premier League champions, for the lineup in defence, could well be the difference between winning and losing.

A makeshift midfield

Los Blancos do not have any serious injuries in the midfield department and were boosted by the return of Eduardo Camavinga for the recent Madrid derby.

Yet, they find themselves in a bizarre midfield dilemma ahead of tomorrow’s game simply because regular starters will likely be forced to play out of position.

Considering that Ancelotti will not take risks in such a high-stakes game, Aurelien Tchouameni and Federico Valverde are highly likely to start in defence against Pep Guardiola’s men.

While their presence at the back does solve the defensive void to a great extent, it leaves the team without two of the most important ball-winning presences in the middle of the park.

Ancelotti must thus account for the absence of Valverde and Tchouameni in midfield before lining up his starting XI, and a lot will ride on Camavinga being fit enough to cover as the pivot.

If the Frenchman can play in the defensive midfield, Dani Ceballos and Jude Bellingham can look to complete the midfield trident with Vinicius Jr., Rodrygo, and Kylian Mbappe starting in attack.