Real Madrid against Manchester City is arguably the defining fixture of the Champions League in the modern era, and we are all set to see its latest iteration on Wednesday night.
"It's become a true Champions League derby," Madrid's Rodrygo told UEFA ahead of the match, and you can see what he's driving at. In each of the past four seasons, one side has eliminated the other from the knockout phase, while City and Madrid have claimed three titles between them in that span: Real Madrid in 2021-22 and 2023-24 and Manchester City in 2022-23.
To add to the theatre, it'll be the first time that Pep Guardiola faces off against Xabi Alonso. Guardiola mentored Alonso when he managed him at Bayern Munich -- it was a time that shaped Xabi Alonso, the coach.
They both come into the game under different circumstances. Guardiola, settled as he is in the City hot seat, is building the pressure on Arsenal domestically and looking to build momentum in Europe (despite the home loss to Bayer Leverkusen, in which he made an astonishing 10 changes to his regular starting XI) while Alonso is feeling the heat after a string of poor results and poorer performances.
How will this modern classic turn out? Here's everything you need to know about the match:
How to watch?
The match will be telecast on TNT Sports 1 and Amazon Prime Video in the U.K, with kickoff at 8.00 p.m. BST
Paramount+ will telecast the match in the U.S., JioStar in India and Stan Sport in Australia. You can also follow ESPN's live updates.
Kylian Mbappé would have tested City's resolve, now it's up to Vinícius
Mbappé has scored nine of the twelve goals Real Madrid have scored in their five Champions League matches this season. However, he missed training on Tuesday ahead of the City clash.
Put those two sentences together, and you have the beginning of a very, very big headache for Alonso and Madrid. There are tweaks that Alonso can make to the formation to file the Mbappé-sized hole in his XI, but more importantly, if Mbappé does indeed miss the match, it'll put the spotlight on the man who's felt it's been taken away from him ever since Mbappé landed in Madrid -- Vinícius Jr.
Yet to score in the Champions League this season, and with just five league goals (to Mbappé's 16), the spotlight will be right back on the Brazilian. After the tantrum he threw on being subbed after an excellent display in the season's first Clásico, Vinícius will be desperate to make this one count.
Mbappé would have tested the brittle confidence of City's defence -- just finding their feet after a leaky start to the season -- but if Vinícius doesn't, the questions will mount.
Will Erling Haaland find his range again?
No goals in 25 minutes against Bayer Leverkusen, just the one goal across four Premier League games... The past five City fixtures have been a veritable drought by Haaland standards, especially after the blazing start to the season he's had.
In front of him on Wednesday, though, will be a ramshackle defence that has looked susceptible over the past few weeks. This weekend, Alonso was forced to play Celta Vigo with Raul Asencio filling in at right back (and looking lost) and Alvaro Carreras filling in at centre back (and looking underpowered) while Antonio Rudiger was forced to come off the bench after Eder Militao limped off injured.
Celta exposed the fragility of this backline -- but previously so had other teams in Spain, as well as Olympiacos and Liverpool in the Champions League.
There will be an inevitable air of nervousness around this defense when lining up against Haaland, and that's exactly the kind of thing the big Norwegian feeds off. Expect him to find his shooting boots again at the Bernabéu.
The pressure is well and truly on Xabi Alonso
They may be fifth in the Champions League standings (and that only on GD, they're tied with four teams on 12 points from five games), they may be second in LaLiga, but at Madrid that's never enough. Xabi Alonso, the player, knew this intimately. Xabi Alonso, the manager, is finding that out all over again.
After a seven game run across all competitions where they have won only twice (in one of them conceding three to Olympiacos, an affront to Madridista sensibilities) and saw a five-point lead atop LaLiga swing to a four-point deficit behind Barcelona, Alonso is under immense pressure, with ESPN reporting on Monday that Florentino Perez had met with the Madrid board to discuss Alonso's future -- with concerns over his management and the performances of key players.
On Tuesday, Alonso insisted he had the support of his players and that he was "calm" about the purported threat to his job. It's only December, but a win against Guardiola will go a long way in silencing his critics and convincing his bosses.
A loss, though, especially if it's a heavy one, and the pressure could reach fever pitch.
Foden vs. Bellingham in battle of English stars
The slack thrown by Erling Haaland's 'barren' run has been picked up in recent games by Phil Foden. The diminutive playmaker seemed to be on the wane, looking lacklustre in front of goal over the past season and a bit. After scoring just once in his first ten league games this season, he's now had five in his last three, bringing the season tally up to six, just one short of his seven goal return from last season.
Add to that the brace he scored early in November against Borussia Dortmund and he's hitting form in just the right time for City. His newly rediscovered scoring touch and that propensity to pick up pockets of space in the inside channels could well prove Madrid's biggest threat.
Meanwhile, with Bellingham's role change under Alonso -- where he has to exercise more restraint in midfield as compared to the free-roaming faux-forward role he had under Carlo Ancelotti -- the goals have dried up, and with it questions have started popping up. Already in the eye of a storm with the national team and having scored only four goals in sixteen matches for Madrid this season, there will be pressure to perform against the visiting English giants.
Along with Vinícius, he could well prove the key to Madrid's offence if the free-scoring Mbappé doesn't make it to the XI... But there will be a larger battle forming in English minds.
Who of Bellingham or Foden will come up with the kind of unmissable, crunch, big-game performance that will capture Thomas Tuchel's undivided attention?
Will the Bernabéu rise to the occasion, as it usually does?
They may have been stunned at home by Celta Vigo on Sunday, but the Bernabéu generally turns up big time in Europe. Madrid have won 13 of their last 14 CL group stage/league phase matches at home (losing one), and it's not just the numbers... There's an aura to Real Madrid playing at home, in Europe, that transcends anything any club can bring to the table across the continent. Xabi Alonso will be leaning heavily on that aura come Wednesday night.
For that to happen, they must start well, with the kind of intensity the home crowd craves in big games. As Alonso said in the pre-match press conference, "From now on, we have to be ready to play, have that energy so that the Bernabéu likes what it sees, and there has to be that connection, because if that happens, we have a better chance of winning."