MADRID, 3 May: Real Madrid is hoping to produce one last magical Champions League night at the Santiago Bernab\u00e9u this season.
\nAfter coming from behind at home to get by Paris Saint-Germain in the last 16 and defending champion Chelsea in the quarterfinals, Madrid needs to rally past Manchester City to return to the final for the first time since it won its record 13th European Cup title in 2018.
\nMadrid lost 4-3 in the first leg in England, when it trailed by two goals three different times.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s going to be difficult, but it\u2019s a great opportunity for us after winning the league title,\u201d Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said. \u201cThere\u2019s a really good vibe within the squad and we are capable of doing it.\u201d
\nThe match against Man City comes only four days after Madrid celebrated winning the Spanish league title at the famed stadium. The club hadn\u2019t clinched a title at the Bernab\u00e9u in 15 years. The 2020 league trophy was secured at an empty Alfredo Di St\u00e9fano Stadium at the team\u2019s training center because of the coronavirus pandemic.
\nThe most significant celebrations at the Bernab\u00e9u this season came during the team\u2019s run to the Champions League semifinals.
\nThe first was against PSG, when Madrid looked beaten after losing the first leg 1-0 and conceding early in the return game in the Spanish capital. The hosts rallied, however, with a second-half hat trick by Karim Benzema.
\nWith another hat trick by Benzema, Madrid won the first leg against Chelsea 3-1 in England, but went down 3-0 at the Bernab\u00e9u before a stunning comeback in extra time allowed it to make the Champions League semifinals for the 10th time in 12 seasons.
\nMadrid advanced 5-4 on aggregate despite that 3-2 loss, which was only its third at the Bernab\u00e9u in 22 home matches in all competitions this season. The others were a 2-1 setback against Moldovan club Sheriff in the group stage of the Champions League, and a demoralizing 4-0 loss to Barcelona in the Spanish league in March.
\nMadrid this season has 15 wins, four draws and three losses at the stadium, which remains under renovation but welcomed the return of fans after the team played last season at the smaller Di St\u00e9fano.
\nMadrid has to reverse the first-leg loss to Man City but scoring goals hasn\u2019t been a problem for the Spanish club. The team\u2019s Benzema-led attack has scored 22 goals in its last eight games in all competitions. The last time Madrid went scoreless was in the 4-0 home loss to Barcelona in the Spanish league in March.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve done well in attack,\u201d Ancelotti said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been able to score a lot. We had three goals against PSG, five against Chelsea and three against Manchester City. Sometimes you have to take more risks, and we have the quality to do it.\u201d
\nAncelotti will not be able to count on defender David Alaba on Wednesday because of a muscle injury sustained in the first half of the match in Manchester. Nacho Fern\u00e1ndez is expected to replace him and play along side \u00c9der Milit\u00e3o. Nacho and Milit\u00e3o didn\u2019t play in the league match on Saturday because of suspensions.
\nEden Hazard and Gareth Bale also are not expected to make it to Wednesday\u2019s match, but Ancelotti otherwise will have a full-strength squad available. The only doubt remaining is whether he will play with Rodrygo or Federico Valverde.
\nRodrygo, who scored twice in the title-winning game on Saturday, would make the team more dangerous offensively, while Valverde would help more in the midfield.
\nMan City is trying to make it to its second consecutive Champions League final after losing the title decider to Chelsea last season. (AP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MADRID, 3 May: Real Madrid is hoping to produce one last magical Champions League night at the Santiago Bernab\u00e9u this season. After coming from behind at home to get by Paris Saint-Germain in the last 16 and defending champion Chelsea in the quarterfinals, Madrid needs to rally past Manchester City to return to the final […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-190231","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190231\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}