Manchester City head to Real Madrid’s Bernabeu on Wednesday night for the Champions League semi-final second leg after the first leg finished goalless.
Manuel Pellegrini’s men face a major uphill task in gaining the result they need to progress to the final though, simply because of Real’s home record. The Bernabeu has become a graveyard for opposition teams in the past few years and City’s task is a daunting one.
Los Blancos have won 15 of their last 16 games at home in all competitions and only arch-rivals Barcelona and Atletico Madrid have avoided defeat at Real Madrid in their last 19 home games. The side from the Spanish capital have kept clean sheets in their last five games at home in all competitions.
City have to avoid defeat and could go through with a score draw, but no team has got a score draw at Real Madrid since Juventus at this very stage of the competition last season. Fair to say that City are up against it to make it to the final.
City are in no way out of the tie though, as the fact they kept a clean sheet against Los Blancos could be a key to progress to the final. In Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne they have to players very capable of hitting the home side on the break.
Manchester City have a chance to make history by making it to their first Champions League final, but gaining a real result at the home of Real Madrid may just be one step too far for City and their European journey.