{"id":53019,"date":"2026-03-17T20:41:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T20:41:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=53019"},"modified":"2026-03-17T20:41:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T20:41:26","slug":"real-madrid-aim-to-seal-champions-league-quarter-final-spot-against-manchester-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2026\/03\/17\/real-madrid-aim-to-seal-champions-league-quarter-final-spot-against-manchester-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Real Madrid Aim to Seal Champions League Quarter-Final Spot Against Manchester City \u2013 Eduzim News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"post_data\">\n<p>Real Madrid Aim to Seal Champions League Quarter-Final Spot Against Manchester City<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Sports Correspondent \u2013 Spanish giants Real Madrid travel to England to face Manchester City in a crucial second-leg encounter of the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Madrid head into the match with a commanding 3\u20130 advantage from the first leg played at the Santiago Bernab\u00e9u Stadium, leaving City with the difficult task of staging a major comeback to stay in the competition.<\/p>\n<p>Real Madrid team news<br \/>Despite their strong aggregate lead, Madrid arrive in Manchester dealing with several injury concerns that have limited the options available to head coach \u00c1lvaro Arbeloa.<\/p>\n<p>French forward Kylian Mbapp\u00e9, who missed the first leg and several recent matches, has resumed training and is expected to travel with the squad. Midfielder Jude Bellingham, defender David Alaba and full-back \u00c1lvaro Carreras have also been included.<\/p>\n<p>However, Madrid will still be without several key players. Defender \u00c9der Milit\u00e3o and winger Rodrygo remain sidelined, while midfielder Dani Ceballos is expected to miss the game due to a calf injury.<\/p>\n<p>Midfielder Federico Valverde will be one of Madrid\u2019s key players after producing a stunning performance in the first leg, scoring a hat-trick. He is expected to play a major role again alongside young talent Arda G\u00fcler.<\/p>\n<p>In attack, Brazilian star Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior is likely to retain his place despite missing a penalty in the opening match.<br \/>Possible Real Madrid starting lineup<br \/>Madrid are expected to line up with:<br \/>Courtois; Alexander-Arnold, Huijsen, R\u00fcdiger, Carreras; Valverde, Tchouam\u00e9ni, Camavinga; D\u00edaz, G\u00fcler, Vin\u00edcius Jr.<\/p>\n<p>Match details<\/p>\n<p>The match kicks off on Tuesday evening as City attempt to overturn the heavy deficit and keep their European hopes alive. For Madrid, the focus will be on protecting their advantage and securing a place in the quarter-finals of Europe\u2019s premier club competition. <\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<span id=\"wordads-inline-marker\" style=\"display: none;\"\/><\/p>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p><!-- #comments --><\/p><\/div>\n<p>\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#Real #Madrid #Aim #Seal #Champions #League #QuarterFinal #Spot #Manchester #City #ZimEye<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Real Madrid Aim to Seal Champions League Quarter-Final Spot Against Manchester City Sports Correspondent \u2013 Spanish giants Real Madrid travel&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,11],"tags":[5924,1238,210,6694,300,2329,296,202,9491,1008,1000,628],"class_list":["post-53019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mzansi","category-world","tag-aim","tag-champions","tag-city","tag-eduzim","tag-league","tag-madrid","tag-manchester","tag-news","tag-quarterfinal","tag-real","tag-seal","tag-spot"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53019"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53021,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53019\/revisions\/53021"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}