Real Madrid vs Manchester City UEFA Champions League Match Stats Preview
Real Madrid and Manchester City will meet for the ninth time in European competition in this match, with both sides winning three of the previous eight (D2). The Citizens have won three of the last four meetings (L1), but did lose the most recent – 3-1 at the Santiago Bernabéu in last season’s semi-final second leg.
Manchester City could become the first English side to beat Real Madrid away from home in the UEFA Champions League on multiple occasions, having previously won 2-1 there in February 2020. Indeed, English sides have only won four of their 18 combined away games at Real Madrid in the competition (D4 L10), with Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City all winning once each.
The last four UEFA Champions League games between Real Madrid (8) and Manchester City (9) have seen 17 goals scored, at an average of 4.3 per match. While Manchester City had 31 shots on target compared to Real Madrid’s 17, the Spanish side netted with 47% of their attempts on target, compared to 29% for the Citizens.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has only lost five of his 21 matches against Real Madrid across all competitions (W12 D4). However, he has lost half of his meetings against them since he left Barcelona (3/6), after only losing two of 15 games against them when he was in charge of Real Madrid’s rivals (W9 D4).
Real Madrid are on a run of three consecutive clean sheets in the UEFA Champions League, while they’ve gone 346 minutes without conceding since Mohamed Salah’s goal in the round of 16 first leg at Anfield.
This will be Pep Guardiola’s 10th semi-final tie as a manager in the UEFA Champions League. The Man City boss has been eliminated at this stage in six of the previous nine, which is the joint-most eliminations for any manager in the semi-finals of the competition (José Mourinho also on six).
According to Opta’s expected goals model – based on the quality of shots on target faced – Real Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois has prevented 9.9 goals in the UEFA Champions League since the start of last season (20 goals conceded from 29.9 xG); the most of any goalkeeper in this period. Manchester City’s Ederson, meanwhile, has conceded 2.3 more than expected in the same span (16 goals from 13.8 xG).
VinÃcius Júnior has either scored or assisted a goal in each of his last 10 starts for Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League (seven goals and five assists). Since 2003-04 (when this data is available), only Cristiano Ronaldo has had a longer run of starts in which he has scored or assisted – 11 between June 2017 and April 2018, while playing for Real Madrid.
Manchester City striker Erling Haaland has scored 35 goals in 27 appearances in the UEFA Champions League, with his minutes per goal ratio (58) the best of any player in the competition’s history (min. five goals scored).
Real Madrid’s Toni Kroos (84) and Manchester City’s Rodri (62) are the two players who have made the most line-breaking passes in the final third in the UEFA Champions League this season. 25 of these passes from Kroos have been for VinÃcius Júnior, which is the most from one player to a teammate in the final third this term.
COMMENTS