Only one winner in Real Madrid-Man City UCL semi-final for Wayne Rooney

Former player and now DC United coach Wayne Rooney made his opinions clear on what team he sees progressing from the Real Madrid vs Manchester City Champions League semi-final. In his Sunday Times piece he stated: “Manchester City will not only beat Real Madrid in the semi-final of the Champions League, but they will blow them away”.

“Of course I could be wrong, but I think Man City are on another level. You can never rule out a team with the experience and history of Real Madrid, but I wouldn’t bet on them. I think this is City’s year”, he stated in the article.

“Since the start of the season I felt that this would be the campaign in which Pep Guardiola would finally conquer Europe with City and the football that his team has been playing in recent months and the way they are peaking in the right time, it has only reaffirmed that thought”.

Haaland makes the difference

And he recalled the mistakes made last year that ended up costing Guardiola’s men the elimination: “A year ago, Madrid eliminated City, but now the dynamics are different. City are more solid in defense and are a more patient team, but the biggest change is the addition of Erling Haaland. Last season at the Bernabéu the team lost their way in five crazy minutes that saw them lose the tie. With Haaland it would not have happened as Real Madrid could not have played in the same way. In both games they had periods where they took the ball away from City and they were able to do that because City had no real threat of counter-attacking.