The game will be glued, but there will be no shortage of goals because both teams have problems defensively.
One Militão, one Ake, this battle of Tianwang Mountain, because of the absence of key players, Real Madrid and Manchester City can not put on their strongest defensive line in theory.
In fact, the alternative after the absence of these two is not difficult to guess. Rudiger would have needed to play to limit Haaland, which is likely to be a choice to be made by Militão with or without a suspension, while Guardiola will almost certainly use Ruben Dias, so Ake's injury will only move Akanji from right to left and then Walker starts.
Therefore, Dias will definitely give Benzema room to play, but Real Madrid also has its own hidden dangers.
Less than three minutes into the opening period, the difference in style between Dias and Rudiger in defense was revealed:
In the face of Real Madrid's retreat from Benzema, who was alone in the front, Dias was more than a step slower from the pace, so when Benzema touched the ball, Dias could not give pressure, but when Haaland touched the ball, Rudiger had already pasted from behind.
You know, Benzema's retreat to take the ball is a key part of Real Madrid's defensive attack, so Manchester City must interrupt this link, and Haaland's retreat to take the ball is not too important, retreat or not, Manchester City is the same front pressure, but Rudiger still will not relax at this time.
Of course, Manchester City still have a lot of confidence in front of Real Madrid.
After the opening, they actively pressed and pressed forward to press Real Madrid in their own half for a long time, and in the physical stage, Walker, Stones and Akanji all had a tendency to insert forward, trying to create pressure on Real Madrid's backfield from multiple directions:
Under such pressure, Real Madrid inevitably leaked space from distance on the perimeter, which is Courtois' responsibility for this game:
However, the forward insertion of so many backfield players is risky, because Real Madrid can and have the means to play counter-attack at any time.
In the 4th minute, Real Madrid advanced all the way from the left side to the front:
In the 18th minute, Real Madrid attacked from the right rib, and the right-footed Akanji could not keep up with Rodrigo's change of direction, allowing the latter to send a direct pass:
Akanji is excellent but defensively on the left flank is bound to face the embarrassment of Chalobah Jr. in the second leg of the quarter-final, while on the other side, despite Manchester City's Walker, Vinicius can still find space to play.
Moreover, Diaz's restrictions on Benzema are not in place:
So City had to find some way to attack with the regular input of the five men up front, but in the first half, they struggled to find their way in one-on-one.
Haaland struggled to get involved in the game due to Rudiger's interference:
Grealish and Bernardo Silva on both sides can't eat Carvajal and Camavinga in front of them, so apart from long-range shooting, City's most common attacking method in the first half is a non-threatening wide cross, which is not enough attacking efficiency:
The in-place offense played in the conversion is the best opportunity:
But Manchester City can grab it, so can Real Madrid:
So next, Real Madrid's opportunity is about to appear.
In terms of the number of veterans, Real Madrid certainly has more than Manchester City, but Real Madrid in this game can protect the veterans most of the time, and at the same time, rely on young people to expand the front again.
However, Manchester City does not have such an arrangement in the structure, and secondly, the overall forward pressure strategy may not be able to keep up, and it will be Real Madrid in the vertical to gain space, just like this defense in the 34th minute, Haaland and De Bruyne tried to press forward, but Gundogan and Rodri behind him did not dare to follow, and could not cover such a large space:
Where are the roots? Just the central defender line that is not confident enough to press the front of the front.
In the 35th minute, Rodri followed this time, but in the face of the flexibility of Modric and Camavinga, he could only watch Real Madrid advance from the left:
At the back, the central defender line of Stones and Dias retreated all the way, and no one dared to go forward, allowing Venicius and Benzema to enter between the two lines before they knew it:
In this way, Venicius naturally gained space for long-range shooting:
So don't look at no one optimistic about Real Madrid before the game, but Manchester City's defense will leave them enough offensive space, which is actually the most valuable resource in Real Madrid's hands.
Coming back in the second half, Real Madrid gained more space up front, and in the 50th minute this attack, from Benzema's retreat to his shot from the edge of the box, Dias and Stones have completely ignored:
But such a forward pressure also gives Manchester City some space, this time De Bruyne's attack is offside, but Real Madrid should be exposed so much, it is also undeserved, but in the case of front pressure, it is also inevitable:
After all, Real Madrid's midfield line has two veterans, Kroos and Modric.
It is not surprising that Ancelotti did not use the young Chuameni in this game, because Chuameni will have obvious problems in the selection of positions when playing back in the league, such as ribs, expansion and the backline.
With veterans, there are no problems in the selection of positions, the level of experience is sufficient, and it can also ensure that Real Madrid always have the technical foundation to play, and will not be limited by Manchester City's pressing, but it will inevitably expose the limitations of speed, strength and physical fitness:
At the same time, however, as Stones' choice became more and more cautious, Real Madrid continued to hit Rodri:
So, this is the time to see which side will make a mistake.
Finally, in the 67th minute, when Real Madrid was defending the attack, Rodrigo's catch was cut off, and Real Madrid entered the defensive state again:
At this time, Valverde was pinned down to the strong side, Kroos had fallen to the right rib in the last defense, and the center was now in charge of Modric:
As soon as the goal was scored, Manchester City's side should have accepted such a result, so they gradually recycled the line, and when Carlo Ancelotti kept making changes, Guardiola did not move.
However, it is still dangerous because City's midfield is not very good at defending.
In the 77th minute, Gundogan made a mistake and Valverde explored the problem of Akanji's counterfoot from this direction, sending in a cross from the right:
Bernardo Silva then sent in a foul that gave Real Madrid the opportunity to attack from a set-piece:
In the 90th minute, Real Madrid also played this long-range shot:
Ederson saved it and the game was over.
A draw is still tactically reasonable, because the goals of both teams come from the opponent's long-lasting defensive problems, which will always be exposed under pressure, and it is difficult to hope that such a strong opponent cannot catch it.
Ruben Dias certainly won't defend Benzema the way Rudiger defended Haaland, even if he should have shown Rudiger's defensive commitment, and his form problems were already evident a few weeks ago:
So, City's theoretically best defensive options are Ake, Akanji and Walker, but the Ruben Dias league break almost indicates that he will definitely start today, but Ake's injury makes Akanji need to switch to the left wing.
This is a gift from Pep Guardiola to Real Madrid.
On the Real Madrid side, the lack of a corner in the core area, that is, after Casemiro's departure, no one can fill this position, has plagued Real Madrid for nearly a season, and has also dragged down their results at the league level to a large extent.
In this game, Real Madrid's basic idea in this positional battle is to defend the central defense, but release some space in the ribs, relying on players to assist in defense and follow up to fill:
But this test is the endurance of the veterans in addition to Valverde.
Chuameni is obviously not a replacement for Casemiro, and Camavinga cannot provide the power element, so at this critical moment, the veteran Kroos can only be used to play instead, but in this way, it is inevitable that there will be mistakes in the game.
If other opponents can't catch it, Manchester City and Kevin De Bruyne are likely to catch it.
So in the next game, the key at the tactical level is to see who can make up for their defense.
Whether Ake will be able to return to the team in a week is still difficult to say, but even if he does, it will only solve the problem of Akanji being angled by Rodrigo and crotched by Valverde today, and Ruben Díaz and Stones will still give Real Madrid space in the middle.
On the Real Madrid side, once Militão is available, how Carlo Ancelotti will play is an interesting question. Real Madrid still need Rudiger to top Haaland, so if you go on Militão and Alaba on both the side, and use a full-back front to solve the problem of not having a back, will it be a way to cross Manchester City in a more pressured away stadium?
So the next game will be more interesting than this one.