Real Madrid vs Manchester City Matchday Stats Preview
Real Madrid and Manchester City will face off in the UEFA Champions League knockout stages for a third successive season, after meeting in the semi-finals in 2021-22 and 2022-23. There were 17 goals scored across those previous four meetings, at an average of 4.3 per game (seven for Real Madrid, 10 for Man City).
Real Madrid have only won one of their last six UEFA Champions League matches against Manchester City (D1 L4), while they have conceded an average of 1.7 goals per game in the competition against the Citizens (17 goals conceded in 10 games), their most against a side they have faced 5+ times.
This match will see the two managers with the most wins in UEFA Champions League history going head-to-head, in the form of Real Madrid’s Carlo Ancelotti (113) and Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola (109). In the three seasons they’ve faced each other in the knockout stages of the competition, Ancelotti’s sides have progressed on two of those occasions (2013-14 and 2021-22), but were eliminated in the semi-finals last season.
After losing his first two meetings with Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti (in the 2013-14 semi-finals of this competition, while in charge of FC Bayern München), Pep Guardiola has only lost one of his last eight games against Ancelotti across all competitions (W6 D1) – all of which have been in charge of current club Manchester City.
Manchester City are on a run of 10 consecutive wins in the UEFA Champions League, with only Bayern Munich having a longer streak in the competition (15 from September 2019-November 2020). They are also on the second longest unbeaten run in the UEFA Champions League (21 matches), after Manchester United (25 from September 2007-May 2009); indeed, the last team to beat them were Real Madrid in the semi-final return leg in May 2022 (3-1 a.e.t.).
Real Madrid have only been behind on the scoreboard for 26 minutes in the UEFA Champions League this season – the fewest of any side. Manchester City, meanwhile, are the team that have been ahead for the most minutes in the competition this term (428 minutes).
Manchester City’s Rodri (137) and Real Madrid’s Toni Kroos (128) are the two players who have made the most line-breaking passes in the UEFA Champions League this season, while Kroos is also the midfielder with the best pass completion rate under pressure in the competition this term (95% - 352/371).
Since the start of the 2021-22 campaign, Real Madrid’s VinÃcius Júnior has been directly involved in more goals than any other player in the UEFA Champions League (27 – 14 goals, 13 assists). In the same period, he also leads all players in the competition for completed dribbles (97) and progressive carries (373).
Real Madrid are one of only two sides – along with current club Manchester City – that Erling Haaland has played against more than once without scoring in the UEFA Champions League (two games against each). His seven total shots and five shots on target against Real Madrid are both his most without scoring against an opponent in the competition.
Jude Bellingham has either scored (4) or assisted (4) in all six of his UEFA Champions League games for Real Madrid. The only player to do so in his first seven games for a club in the competition is Sébastien Haller, while playing for Ajax in 2021-22 (11 goals, two assists).
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