Manchester City’s Norwegian striker Erling Haaland attends a team training session at the Manchester City training ground on May 8, 2023 in Manchester, north-west England. , photo credit: AFP
Two of Europe’s best attacking teams go head-to-head in the Champions League semi-finals this week, with Manchester City’s record-seeking Erling Haaland facing Real Madrid’s red-hot trio of Vinicius Junior, Rodrigo and Karim Benzema.
It will be a rematch of last year’s semi-final, when Madrid got the better of a City team that did not have Haaland in the squad. City again eluded European success, while Madrid won a record-extending 14th title.
The addition of Haaland could be the difference-maker for Pep Guardiola’s side this time around. The 22-year-old Norwegian has scored 12 of City’s 26 goals in the Champions League this season. He is five short of Cristiano Ronaldo’s single-season record of 17 goals for Madrid in 2013–14.
Haaland added a new dimension to a City attack that played mostly without a striker last season. Instead of always focusing on dominating, Guardiola has at times been happy to use Haaland as a weapon on the counter-attack. The striker has a Premier League-record 35 goals this season, and a total of 51 goals in all competitions.
Madrid will stick to a formula that has worked well in recent years, with Vinicius, Benzema and Rodrygo taking turns leading an attack that has scored 25 goals in the Champions League this season – 15 of them from all three Returns. He scored eight of the team’s 10 goals in the knockout stages alone.
Last season, Vinicius, Benzema and Rodrygo combined for all six of Madrid’s goals in a 6-5 loss to City. Rodrigo scored two late goals to force the second leg into extra time at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.
Rodrigo is coming off a two-goal performance in a 2-1 win over Osasuna that gave Madrid the Copa del Rey title on Saturday. Vinicius had one assist and continued to play at the top level. Benzema scored a hat-trick in Madrid’s 4-2 win against Almería in the last Spanish league round.
With the Copa title secured and the league out of reach, Madrid can focus solely on the matchup against City.
“We are preparing for a big game on Tuesday and we are going into it with high spirits,” said coach Carlo Ancelotti. “We are going to compete and fight because we are so close to another final.”
City will still enter the semi-finals in the midst of a tight title race in England. Guardiola had to play the full 90 minutes of Saturday’s 2-1 win over Leeds with some of his top players including Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne.
Madrid eliminated two other English clubs in the Champions League this season – Liverpool in the round of 16 and Chelsea in the quarter-finals. City knocked out Leipzig in the last 16 and Bayern Munich in the last eight.
Madrid are playing their 11th semi-final in 13 seasons and are seeking their sixth title in 10 seasons. City played in their first Champions League final two seasons ago and lost to Chelsea.