Champions League: Titan battles in Manchester and Munich for a place in the semi-finals

The Champions League is at its most decisive turning point until… the next one!

With her two huge showdowns Manchester City with the Real Madrid in England and her Bayern Munich with the Arsenal in Germany, the quarter-final stage of the competition is completed, as two of the four teams will take the tickets for the semi-finals. Everything is open, since in the first games the results were tied with 3-3 “Santiago Bernabeu” and 2-2 at “Emirates”.

Manchester City-Real Madrid

Football recital the two teams delivered in the first match and proved why they are currently considered the best in Europe, with the greatest quality and the ability, no matter what passes, to go all the way and win the big-eared cup.

After all, 3-3 in itself captures the sight offered by City and Real. By the first quarter the score was already 2-1, with the “queen” turning the score upside down, while the “citizens” may have taken the lead again in the second half with Foden and Guardiol, but Valverde’s cannonball left everything open for the rematch.

At “Etihad”, the truth is that tradition is with the European champions. In the five matches between them they have managed to remain unbeaten, with three wins and two draws and given last year’s semi-final second leg and City’s 4-0 thrashing of Real was one of Pep Guardiola’s best performances in charge of the English club.

The two gladiators go with the best possible mentality in this hugely important match, as the English destroyed Luton with 5-1 and taking advantage of the defeats of Liverpool and Arsenal climbed to the top of the standings, while the “merengues” passed with 1 -0 from the home of Mallorca, maintaining +8 from the second, Barcelona.

Available Walker, Ake and Stones, who trained normally and were made available to the Catalan technician. On the other hand, Tswameni will be absent and will be absent, while Courtois and Alaba have been on the pitch for some time.

Possible lineups:

Manchester City (Pep Guardiola): Ederson – Walker, Ruben Diaz, Stones, Guardiol – Rodri – Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Doku, Foden – Haaland.

Real Madrid (Carlo Ancelotti): Lunin – Carvajal, Rudiger, Nacho, Mendy – Kroos, Kamavinga, Valverde – Bellingham, Rodrigo, Vinicius.

Referee: Daniele Orsato (Italy)

Bayern Munich – Arsenal

Impressive match also took place in North London, which also ended without a winner after 2-2. The Gunners may have taken an early lead with Saka, but before the end of the first half the Bavarians had managed to pull off a turnaround with Gnabry and Kane. In the end, Trossard brought the perfect balance, with the home team complaining about a penalty on Xhaka in the final and the visitors “shouting” about the penalty not being attributed to Gabriel’s hand.

Tradition is on the side of the Germanswho at home in five games against the English have three wins, a draw and a loss with a total number of goals of 14-4, while the last two matches have come 5-1.

At the weekend Bayern took a 2-0 win against Cologne but saw off Leverkusen to conquer the championship in mathematics as wellwhile Mikel Arteta’s side lost 2-0 to Aston Villa and throw it in the trash the chance to remain alone first in the standings.

Knocked out Coman who misses the season finale and is expected to be ready for the Euros in the summer, while the suspended Davies and the also injured Ganbry, Bouy and Sarr are out. Sane at Tuchel’s disposal. On the other hand, Arteta saw Edgard feel some discomfort and withdraw from the match against Villa, however, it does not appear to be anything serious and he will be available. Timber has been out for a while.

Possible lineups:

Bayern Munich (Thomas Tuchel): Neuer – Kimmich, Dier, De Ligt, Mazraoui – Leimer, Goretzka – Sane, Miller, Musiala – Kane.

Arsenal (Mikel Arteta): Raya – White, Saliba, Gabriel, Kivior – Edgard, Rice, Jorginho – Saka, Jesus, Martinelli.

Referee: Danny Makeli (Netherlands)