Manchester City need a miracle in Madrid as they take on Real to try and rescue their place in the Champions League.
Despite leading with five minutes left on the clock at the Etihad last week, goals from Brahim Diaz and Jude Bellingham saw Carlo Ancelotti’s side take a 3-2 lead in their play-off tie at the halfway stage.
One of the European giants will be eliminated this week with the other heading into Friday’s last 16 stage draw.
As has been the case for much of the season, City caused their own problems with a Real side missing almost its entire defence pouncing and punishing them.
City must now stage a dramatic comeback of their own and will have been sweating on the fitness of Erling Haaland in recent days.
The Norway international was on the score sheet for the first time in five meetings with Real in the first leg, scoring twice before things fell apart.
A 4-0 thumping of Newcastle United in the Premier League at the weekend steadied the ship but Haaland was forced off in that game, sparking concern when he went down holding his knee after an awkward landing before coming off three minutes from time.
Guardiola will provide an update today at his pre-match press conference with hope he will be ready to start.
Kevin de Bruyne was rested that afternoon against Newcastle and will be expected to come back into the side on Wednesday.
Jack Grealish enjoyed a superb start to the first leg game last week only to be forced off with a groin injury on the half hour mark. City have been hopeful he has avoided serious injury with the England international expected to be available again this week.
Manuel Akanji also picked up a knock in that game and is facing 10 weeks out with a thigh injury having undergone surgery.
The Switzerland international, along with Josko Gvardiol, have been a reliable presence at the back in a season where City’s other defensive options have struggled with injury.
John Stones, Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake were back for the first leg in Manchester last week with the latter two rested at the weekend with Wednesday’s game in mind.
For Real, Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni slotted in at right-back and centre-half as Carlo Ancelotti managed a full-blown injury crisis last week.
The situation has improves somewhat with Antonio Rudiger and David Alaba in contention to come back into the side if they come through a final training session on Tuesday unscathed.
Eder Militao and Dani Carvajal remain sidelined with long-term issues with Lucas Vazquez also still unavailable, meaning there is still a problem to solve at right-back.
Predicted Real Madrid XI to face Man City
Courtois; Valverde, Tchouameni, Asencio, Mendy; Camavinga, Ceballos, Bellingham; Rodrygo, Mbappe, Vinicius Jr
Predicted Man City XI to face Real Madrid
Ederson; Nunes, Dias, Stones, Gvardiol; Gonzalez, Kovacic; Foden, de Bruyne, Marmoush, Haaland, Marmoush
Where to watch Real Madrid ? Kick-off time and TV channel
Real Madrid vs Man City kicks off at 8pm on Wednesday 19 February.
The match will be broadcast live on TNT Sports 1 with a live stream available through the Discovery+ app.
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