- Real Madrid finished 11th in 36-team League Phase table
- City squeezed into play-offs in 22nd place
- Recommended bet: Draw

The last two winners of the Champions League meet in a huge knockout phase play-off first leg at the Etihad when Manchester City host Real Madrid.

The two Euro giants both surprisingly struggled in the revamped League Phase as Real could only secure an 11th-place finish, while City just about joined them in the play-offs thanks to a Matchday Eight victory over Club Brugge.

Team news

Recent City signing Nico Gonzalez was forced off in Saturday's FA Cup win over Leyton Orient and is a major doubt for Tuesday's tie, while Oscar Bobb, Jeremy Doku, Nathan Ake and Ederson are also struggling to be fit to face Real.

Rodri is still absent as he continues to recover from his serious knee injury, while John Stones, Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden and Erling Haaland should all start after they were rotated out of the side at the weekend.

Real have their own injury problems, particularly in defence and are set to be without the injured Antonio Rudiger, Dani Carvajal, David Alaba, Eder Militao and Lucas Vazquez for the trip to the Etihad.

The stats

Real won five of their eight League Phase games, beating Stuttgart, Borussia Dortmund, Atalanta, Salzburg and Brest, while they lost to Lille, Liverpool and AC Milan.

City won just three of their games in the first stage – seeing off Slovan Bratislava, Sparta Prague and Club Brugge.

Pep Guardiola's side suffered defeats in the League Phase to Sporting Lisbon, Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus, while they drew with Inter Milan and Feyenoord.

This is the fourth season running the two sides have met in the Champions League.

Real won their semi-final tie 6-5 on aggregate in 2022, City then won 5-1 on aggregate in the last four in 2023, while Real won on penalties in the quarter-finals last season.

Prediction

Tuesday's huge Etihad showdown is without doubt the standout tie in the Champions League play-offs as record 15-time European champions Real travel to 2023 victors City.

The continental heavyweights were both expected to comfortably finish in the top eight, but now one will not even make the last 16.

City's problems this season have not just been restricted to Europe as Guardiola's side are way off the pace in the Premier League, sitting down in fifth following a 5-1 humbling at Arsenal last weekend.

They were unconvincing 2-1 winners over League One Leyton Orient in the FA Cup on Saturday and it is difficult to see them being capable of beating Real on recent evidence.

Los Blancos, despite their own struggles in Europe, are top of LaLiga and head to Manchester having lost just one of their last eight games in all competitions.

Ancelotti's side were held to a 1-1 draw by local rivals Atletico Madrid over the weekend and they could follow up with another draw on Tuesday, which would set up the second leg in the Spanish capital next week perfectly.

Back the draw at 5/2 with LiveScore Bet.

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