Mina Rzouki
European football expert

"The quality of Madrid is not by chance or luck. They have a high level in everything."

Was Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola just being polite in the aftermath of the first leg of their Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid?

City won a sensational game 4-3 and take that slender lead to the Bernabeu on Wednesday to meet a side that has since been crowned champions of Spain.

Winning La Liga sees Carlo Ancelotti become the first manager to win the title in Europe's top five leagues - and should he claim the Champions League, he will become the first to win it four times, moving clear of Liverpool's Bob Paisley and Real's Zinedine Zidane.

But still, the Spanish giants are often accused of winning despite of the Italian rather than because of him.

What is their gameplan? How many times have individuals bailed them out?

Read more of Mina Rzouki's piece on Ancelotti and Real here.

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Former Tottenham midfielder Luka Modric, 36, will be aiming to reach his fifth Champions League final with Real and expects his team to overturn the one-goal deficit.

"Of course, we're very confident we can fight back and advance," said Modric. "We did not play well in the first leg and even so we scored three goals.

"The history of this club, winning this competition 13 times, will play a major part. It influences our mentality a lot because you believe you can achieve anything wearing these colours."

Well, the City players are not particularly popular around these parts. There are boos from all four sides as they come out for the warm-up.

As Rio Ferdinand has just said on BT, that will sharpen the focus of the City players. Time to shut these lot up.

Izzy Christiansen
England and Everton midfielder on BBC Radio 5 Live

With the introduction of Kyle Walker into Manchester City’s backline, I think that will pose more of an offensive threat to Real Madrid than defensive stability for City.

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Since the first leg, Real have become Spanish champions, beating Espanyol 4-0 at home on Saturday to clinch a 35th La Liga title.

It also meant Carlo Ancelotti, who left Everton to return to Real last summer, became the first manager to win the title in each of Europe's biggest five leagues - England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

The Italian, like Guardiola a European Cup winner as a player and Champions League winner as a manager, has vowed to attack City from the start of the second leg. He said: "If we try to defend with a low block, with 10 men in our box, City will have 99 shots on target.

"Sometimes you need to take risks and we were very successful this season when risking because we have a lot of quality up front.

"It will be a clash of two very different teams, two teams with different qualities, collective and individual.

"But we'll have home advantage and we'll be aggressive as always. We have a quality up front that gives us the luxury to be daring on offence."

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Pep Guardiola, a European Cup winner with Barcelona as a player and two-time Champions League winner as Barca manager, will take City to a second successive final if they avoid defeat in the Bernabeu.

"To knock Madrid out you have to perform well in two games," added the Spaniard.

"It's going to be a massive test, we're lucky to be going there. We're both in the semi-finals of the Champions League, which is great, and hopefully we can give the best version of ourselves and get to the final.

"We have to prepare but we can play much, much worse than we played and still win. Nobody knows, football is unpredictable.

"Sometimes you don't get what you deserve, sometimes you get something you don't deserve."

To fill in some of the gaps in the narrative, City are aiming to reach a second successive Champions League final on Wednesday, having lost last year's final 1-0 to Chelsea.

Since the money came rolling in to the club, they have won every major trophy on offer barring Europe's top club prize. We're in holy grail territory now.

Pep Guardiola's side currently top the Premier League by a point, ahead of Liverpool, who await the winner of tonight's tie in the final in Paris.

No such worries for Real. They have been European champions 13 times and won La Liga at the weekend.

Jonathan Woodgate
Former England defender on BBC Radio 5 Live

Karim Benzema is in outstanding form, he has been their talisman since Cristiano Ronaldo left.

If they need to do something Benzema steps up to the mark.

To stop this player you need to have a top game. Aymeric Laporte and Ruben Dias have their hands full.

Benzema has now scored 14 goals in this season's Champions League, his first-leg double taking him one above Robert Lewandowski, whose Bayern side were eliminated in the quarter-finals.

Benzema has now scored 15 goals in 21 Champions League games against English clubs, his largest tally against opposition from a single nation, overtaking the 14 he has registered in the competition against German sides.

Cristiano Ronaldo holds the record for most goals scored in a single Champions League knockout phase with ten in Madrid's victorious 2016/17 campaign; Benzema has nine in 2021/22.

Oh, and the Frenchman has 42 goals in 42 games in all competitions this season.

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The reason this tie is still very much in the balance is the wonderful Panenka penalty from Karim Benzema that ensured Real Madrid left the Etihad with a one-goal deficit.

Just take a moment to imagine the sheer stones it takes to attempt such a penalty in those circumstances. A Champions League semi-final. At 4-2 down. Away from home. With eight minutes to go.

It is a testament to an elite goalscorer, with a supreme mentality, playing at the very top of his game.

He'll be the man City will need to shackle above all others tonight. Easier typed out than done.

Let's take just a little moment here to enjoy all the angles of a mighty big moment from the first leg, courtesy of Mr Karim Benzema...

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Image source, Getty Images

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Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Jonathan Woodgate
Former England defender on BBC Radio 5 Live

This is a Manchester City team which is world class, they’ve got a world class starting XI, world class manager, the subs that come on are world class.

There will be no confidence issues. They will realise now that they just have to do a job in this second leg to get to a consecutive final.

BBC Radio 5 Live

As always you can follow tonight's game via this live text commentary, in which I'll endeavour to capture all the best action for you.

Over on BBC Radio 5 Live you'll be able to listen in to the atmosphere at the Bernabeu while our commentary team talks you through the game.

Mark Chapman is the host from 19:00 BST, with full commentary from 20:00.

The situation is a pretty simple one tonight, in truth. Anything but a defeat and Manchester City are into the final for a second year running.

A one-goal loss and we're potentially going the distance - extra-time and penalties.

Anything more than that in Real's favour and it is goodnight City and Liverpool have Europe's most decorated club to deal with in another big showdown.

The way that first leg went, you really wouldn't put it past these two to go option B and keep this show going right until the very end. You just know how this shakes out will be anything but simple!

Phil Foden will be making his 36th Champions League appearance tonight.

Only Iker Casillas (47), Cesc Fabregas (42) and Kylian Mbappe (40) have made more appearances aged 21 or younger in the competition.

Stellar company, that.

City's strongest XI? I'd say so. Maybe John Stones might make the cut?

Kyle Walker returns from injury to start for Manchester City at right-back.

City make four changes from the 4-0 win over Leeds at the weekend, with Walker, Kevin de Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Riyad Mahrez replacing Nathan Ake, Ilkay Gundogan, Raheem Sterling and Jack Grealish.

Joao Cancelo, who was suspended for the first leg, is also in the team.

Man City XI: Ederson, Cancelo, Walker, Dias, Laporte, Rodri, Bernardo, De Bruyne, Mahrez, Foden, Jesus. Subs: Steffen, Carson, Ake, Sterling, Gundogan, Grealish, Zinchenko, Fernandinho, Egan-Riley, Palmer, McAtee, Lavia.

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The Real fans have been gearing up for this most of the day...

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And this lot have been making the most of the trip...

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Image source, Getty Images

No sign of the City team yet, but we'll bring that to you as soon as we get it.

Real Madrid put out a second-choice team at the weekend to beat Espanyol 4-0 and clinch the La Liga title.

They make eight changes from that match with Karim Benzema, Vinicus Jr, Toni Kroos and co back in.

Thibaut Courtois, Casemiro and Luka Modric are the only three to remain.

David Alaba was expected to miss out through injury, but he's named amongst the subs.

Real Madrid: Courtois, Carvajal, Militao, Nacho, Mendy, Casemiro, Modric, Kroos, Valverde, Benzema, Vinicius. Subs: Lunin, Fuidias, Alaba, Vallejo, Asensio, Marcelo, Jovic, Vazquez, Ceballos, Rodrygo, Mariano, Camavinga.

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