Five Facts: The need-to-know numbers ahead of Man City vs Real Madrid

 

Manchester City carry a 2-1 advantage into the second leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie with Real Madrid after coming from behind with two late goals to triumph at the Bernabeu back in February.

 

Both teams are without key players ahead of Friday's return leg, with Sergio Ramos suspended for Madrid and City striker Sergio Aguero injured. City have away goals on their side but Madrid have pedigree in this competition.

Here are five need-to-know facts ahead of tonight's mouthwatering encounter.

 

What the history books say after City's first-leg win in Madrid...

 

While this tie is certainly not over by any means, history would strongly favour City after their 2-1 win in Madrid. In fact, City have never lost a European tie after securing an away first-leg victory. City have done this on 10 previous occasions, most recently doing so against Schalke in the round of 16 last season.

 

Madrid, meanwhile, have a poor record after a home first-leg defeat. Los Blancos have lost the home first-leg six times in UEFA competition and only won one tie, which dates back to the 1970/71 European Cup Winners' Cup against Wacker Innsbruck. In fact, only five times in the Champions League era has a team turned round a tie after a home first-leg defeat.

 

Eden Hazard's bizarre first season at Madrid in numbers

 

Real Madrid winning LaLiga for the first time in three years does not paper over what has been a remarkably poor first season for Eden Hazard following his club-record move from Chelsea 12 months ago. The 29-year-old has incredibly managed just one goal from 30 shots in 21 appearances across league and European competition this season.

 

With Madrid trailing City heading into the return leg, this would certainly be as ideal a time as ever for Hazard, who was injured back in February, to come up trumps for Zinedine Zidane's side. Hazard has faced City more times than any other team in his career (18) but has only scored four goals in that time, three fewer than he has managed against his favourite opponents Arsenal, Liverpool,  Newcastle and West Brom.

 

Five Facts: The need-to-know numbers ahead of Man City vs Real Madrid

 

 

Defensive records flip on their head in Europe

 

Real Madrid's league title success was not underpinned by dazzling offensive displays but instead their defensive resilience. They had the best defensive record in Europe's top five leagues this season (0.66 goals conceded per game), with Thibaut Courtois claiming the Golden Glove award. Manchester City, however, were the opposite. They finished 18 points behind Premier League champions Liverpool because they made defensive mistakes at the worst moments.

 

In the Champions League, however, that is not the case for either side. Only Atalanta (16) and Chelsea (12) have conceded more goals than Madrid (10) of teams still left in the competition, while only Paris Saint-Germain (4) have conceded fewer goals than City (5). City haven't kept a clean sheet in any of their last five European games but crucially haven't conceded more than once in that time. In fact, City haven't conceded more than once at the Etihad since January. One goal will not be enough for Madrid to advance to the next round.

 

Trivia: the last foreign side to eliminate City from Europe?

 

Manchester City haven't been eliminated from the Champions League by a foreign side since 2017 when they were dumped out by Monaco in the round of 16. Since then, City have only been knockout out of the Champions League by their own English rivals. Despite winning the Premier League in 2017/18 and 2018/19, City were beaten over two legs by Liverpool and then Tottenham in that time. As City are the only Premier League side left in the competition, perhaps this will be their year...

 

How big a loss is Sergio Ramos?

 

Naturally being without your captain for a must-win game is considered a big blow, particularly in the case of Sergio Ramos, who is pivotal at both ends of the pitch for Real Madrid. The Spaniard is remarkably Madrid's second top scorer in all competitions this season (13) and finished the LaLiga campaign with six goals in his last 10 appearances.

 

Suspension is nothing new for Ramos, of course. His career is littered with red cards and bans, so Madrid are, to some extent, used to playing without the 34-year-old. In fact, Madrid have actually won 15 and drawn one of the last 16 matches Ramos has missed through suspension. Zidane would of course prefer to have his captain on the field but his absence doesn't completely rule out their chances of a comeback as many have suggested.

Five Facts: The need-to-know numbers ahead of Man City vs Real Madrid