MADRID, Spain (AP):
Two of the best attacking teams in Europe face off in the Champions League (CL) semi-finals this week, with Manchester City’s record-seeking Erling Haaland going against Real Madrid’s red-hot trio of Vinícius Júnior, Rodrygo and Karim Benzema.
Today’s first leg at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium will be a rematch of last year’s semi-final, when Madrid got the better of a City team that didn’t have Haaland. 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 Madrid in 2013-14.
“If you have a player like Haaland, you have to take advantage,” Guardiola said yesterday. “We will play for him. When we didn’t have him we had to play differently.”
Haaland added a new dimension to a City attack that played most of last season without a striker. Instead of focusing on always dominating possession, Guardiola has been happy to use Haaland as a weapon on the counterattack at times. The striker has an English Premier League-record 35 goals this season, and 51 across all competitions.
“Haaland is very dangerous, we know it,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said. “But it’s not only him. City has a complete team that plays very well. We will try to stop a team that seems unstoppable, but we will have our chances and we can compete.”
Madrid will stick to the formula that has worked well in recent years, with Vinícius, Benzema and Rodrygo taking turns to lead an attack that scored 25 times in the Champions League this season – 15 of them coming from the trio. They have eight of the team’s 10 goals in the knockout stage alone.
Last season, Vinícius, Benzema and Rodrygo combined for all six of Madrid’s goals as they advanced past City 6-5 on aggregate in the semi-finals. Rodrygo scored the two late goals that took the second leg to extra time at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Rodrygo is coming off another two-goal performance against Osasuna that won Madrid the Copa del Rey final on Saturday. Vinícius had an assist. In the previous Spanish league round, Benzema had a hat-trick in a 4-2 win against Almeria.
City enter the semi-finals still in the middle of a tight title race in England. Guardiola had to play some of his top players – including Haaland and Kevin de Bruyne – for the full 90 minutes on Saturday in a 2-1 win over Leeds.
Madrid eliminated two other English clubs in the Champions League – Liverpool in the round of 16 and Chelsea in the quarter-finals. City advanced past Leipzig in the last 16 and Bayern Munich in the last eight.