Manchester City v Real Madrid: Champions League quarter-final, second leg – live

Manchester City: “Blowing away Real Madrid in a Champions League semi-final second leg before their home crowd was the fantasy Manchester City made reality last spring,” writes Jamie Jackson. “The challenge for the holders is to knock the Madridistas out again at the Etihad Stadium, and after the scintillating performance of a year ago there is no sense of inferiority.”

Manchester City: Ederson, Walker, Dias, Akanji, Gvardiol, Rodri, Foden, Bernardo Silva, De Bruyne, Grealish, Haaland.

Subs: Stones, Ake, Kovacic, Doku, Ortega, Alvarez, Gomez, Matheus Luiz, Carson, Bobb, Lewis.

Real Madrid: Lunin, Carvajal, Rudiger, Nacho, Mendy, Valverde, Camavinga, Kroos, Rodrygo, Bellingham, Vinicius Junior.

Subs: Eder Militao, Modric, Joselu, Lucas, Ceballos, Garcia, Diaz, Guler, Arrizabalaga, Gonzalez.

Daniele Orsato leads tonight’s team of match officials and will take charge of his third match between these sides since 2020.

• Referee: Daniele Orsato

• Referee’s assistants: Ciro Carbone and Alessandro Giallatini

• Fourth official: Maurizio Mariani

• VAR: Massimiliano Irrati

Real Madrid defensive midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni has to sit this one out through suspension after being booked last week, while centre-back David Alaba and goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois are long-term absentees.

Vinicius Junior, Eduardo Camavinga, Dani Carvajal and Eder Militao all started on the bench for their side’s win over Real Mallorca last Saturday, while Rodrygo is expected to have recovered from an unspecified knock.

Despite their hectic playing schedule, John Stones is Manchester City’s only injury concern, having missed last weekend’s game against Luton with a “niggle”. Kyle Walker has recovered from a hamstring injury, while Rodri is expected to return after being rested on Saturday.

Following last week’s thriller under the closed roof of the Bernabeu Stadium, this Champions League quarter-final second leg could not be more finely poised.

Manchester City are the hot pre-match favourites but in Real Madrid they face an extremely tenacious team famous for always finding a way …. except on occasions like last year’s semi-final against the same opposition, when they got blown away at the Etihad Stadium.

In the interests of entertainment, those without a dog in this particular fight will be hoping that City don’t have it all their own way this time around and that we’ll be treated to a wild and chaotic white-knuckle ride to match both of last night’s quarter-final second legs. Kick-off at the Etihad Stadium is at 8pm (BST) but we’ll have plenty of team news and build-up in the meantime.