Chelsea legend backs Real Madrid against Manchester City in UCL semi-final, but feels Citizens have a ‘good opportunity’
Mekelele shared his prediction or thoughts ahead of the Real vs City clash.
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Claude Makelele (Google)
Claude Makelele, the former Chelsea and Real Madrid midfielder, spoke to the media in Paris ahead of the Laureus World Sports Awards. He shared his prediction on The Champions League semi-final clash between Real Madrid and Manchester City.
Makelele said that he still considers Real Madrid as the best team in the world. He said that he is a fan of the club because he won two La Liga titles and one Champions League trophy with Los Blancos.
Mekelele said “For me, Real Madrid is still the best team in the world, but Manchester City has learned how to play this competition. But I’m still a fan of Madrid. I have a lot of respect for them. I won a lot of things with them.” Makelele said that Manchester City have a good chance of reaching their first Champions League final this season under Pep Guardiola.
He said “City have a good opportunity. It’s different from other years. Now they have a more compact team and they have learned from this competition. They lost, lost, lost… And while they won the Premier League and gained experience. Now Guardiola has understood that the Champions League is another way of playing. And I’m not referring only to what happened last year, he has learned from other seasons as well. It happened to us at Chelsea before. You have to fight for a long time before you win this trophy. Madrid is different because they know what to do in this competition. They are used to playing two different competitions in a different way. I would say that City have a slight advantage, 51 percent.”
Record breaker Haaland of Manchester City takes on Real Madrid’s attacking trio
Tuesday’s first leg at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium will be a rematch of last year’s semifinal when Madrid got the better of a City team. That time Erling Haaland did not play for City. City fell short of European success yet again, while Madrid went on to win a record-extending 14th title.
The addition of Haaland could be the difference-maker for Pep Guardiola’s team. The Norwegian has 12 of City’s 26 goals in the league this season. He is five short of Cristiano Ronaldo’s single-season record of 17 for Real Madrid in 2013-14. Guardiola said “If you have a player like Haaland, you have to take advantage, we will play for him. When we didn’t have him we had to play differently. Now we have to take advantage of having a player like him.”
Madrid eliminated two other English clubs in the Champions League — Liverpool in the round of 16 and Chelsea in the quarterfinals. City advanced past Leipzig in the last 16 and Bayern Munich in the last eight. Madrid is making its 11th semifinal appearance in 13 seasons and is trying to win its sixth title in 10 seasons. City played in its first Champions League final two seasons ago, losing to Chelsea. It is going to be a mouthwatering match for the football fans and the fans can not wait for the match to begin.
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Arpan Ghosh
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