Real Madrid vs Man. City Champions League semi-final preview: Where to watch, kick-off time, predicted line-ups

Real Madrid and Manchester City meet in their UEFA Champions League semi-final second leg on Wednesday 4 May.

Where to watch Real Madrid vs Man. City on TV

Fans can find their local UEFA Champions League broadcast partner(s) here.

What happened in the first leg?

Real Madrid looked all at sea after Kevin De Bruyne and Gabriel Jesus put the hosts 2-0 up inside 11 minutes, and though the ever-reliable Karim Benzema pulled one back before the break, Phil Foden's header restored City's two-goal lead. Vinícius Júnior responded quickly, though, and while a fine Bernardo Silva strike made it 4-2 on the night, a Panenka-style Benzema penalty took him to the top of this season's scorers rankings and left Carlo Ancelotti's side with just a one-goal deficit to overturn.

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Starting line-ups

Real Madrid: Courtois; Carvajal, Éder Militão, Nacho, Mendy; Modrić, Casemiro, Kroos; Valverde, Benzema, Vinícius Júnior

Man. City: Ederson; Walker, Rúben Dias, Laporte, João Cancelo; De Bruyne, Rodri, Bernardo Silva; Mahrez, Jesus, Foden

Form guide

Real Madrid
Form (all competitions, most recent first): WLWWLWW 
Where they stand: Spanish Liga champions

Man. City
Form (all competitions, most recent first): WWWWLDD 
Where they stand: 1st in Premier League

Expert predictions

Simon Hart, Real Madrid reporter
Madrid secured their 35th domestic title with a 4-0 win over Espanyol on Saturday , yet the fans’ chant of “¡Sí se puede!” – Yes we can – at the Plaza de Cibeles on Saturday night was a reminder of the next task at hand: to become the first Madrid side to overturn a first-leg loss in a European Cup semi-final.

They will have to tackle the task without David Alaba – in the squad but ruled out yesterday by Ancelotti – but will have Casemiro back in midfield. Moreover, Karim Benzema up front offers the hope anything is possible; the man who single-handedly undid a first-leg deficit against Paris Saint-Germain in the last 16 got his 42nd goal of the season against Espanyol and will be in the mood for more on Wednesday night.

Matthew Howarth, Man. City reporter
This tie has a lot to live up to after last week’s sensational first leg in Manchester. Given Real’s recent habit in this competition of navigating their way out of the tightest of corners, City’s one-goal lead feels somewhat precarious. A second consecutive Champions League final is within sight for Pep Guardiola and his players, but first they must clear the biggest hurdle of their European campaign so far.

What the coaches say

Carlo Ancelotti, Real Madrid coach: "Tomorrow we'll see a great game between two great teams with great players. Whenever you play a Champions League semi-final, it's not something you can do out of sheer heart and motivation alone. It's an important component, but that's not enough. There are individual aspects, it takes a combination of circumstances to win the Champions League. If we win tomorrow, it won't be because we're motivated or the magical atmosphere, it will be because of our collective commitment and the individual qualities of our players."

Pep Guardiola, Man. City coach: "Probably, we have to be better [than the first leg] but we can play much worse than we played and we can win. We cannot deny my assessment is right. Nobody knows. Sometimes you get what you don't deserve, sometimes you don't get what you deserve. We have to perform incredibly well and win the game [...] To knock Madrid out, you have to perform well over two games."

Where is the 2022 Champions League final?

The Stade de France in Saint-Denis will host the final on Saturday 28 May at 21:00 CET.

The winners gain a place in the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League group stage, if they have not qualified via their domestic competition.