Real Madrid latest news roundup, Mar. 9: Champions League, Man City, Mbappé injury...

Real Madrid prepare for Groundhog Day UCL clash

Having squeaked past Celta Vigo on Friday, a 94th-minute winner keeping Los Blancos in sight of LaLiga’s summit, Real Madrid’s sights now shift away from their pursuit of a record-extending 37th Spanish title, to their pursuit of a record-extending 16th European title. On Wednesday, Álvaro Arbeloa’s men host Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in the first leg of the Champions League last 16.

At this point, Madrid and City must be utterly fed up of each other; goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois’ recent comments certainly seemed to suggest so. This is, after all, the fifth season in a row that they have met in the Champions League knockout phase. Madrid, who celebrated their 124th birthday on Friday, made it to the 111th year of their existence without facing City once. In the decade-and-a-bit since, the clubs have met in 15 Champions League games.

And it’s just four months since Madrid and City last crossed paths: in this season’s league phase, goals by Nico O’Reilly and Erling Haaland gave the Premier League club a 2-1 win at the Bernabéu in December.

Who’s favorite in Real Madrid vs Manchester City?

In the latest edition of what Madrid have themselves dubbed a “new European clásico”, the bookmakers and the statisticians both appear to be backing City, who head to Spain fresh from dispatching Newcastle United in a 3-1 FA Cup triumph at the weekend.

The betting houses have handed the Mancunians moneyline odds of between -105 and +100 to win this midweek’s opening leg; despite having home advantage on Wednesday, Madrid are priced back at +240 to +260. Opta’s ‘supercomputer’, meanwhile, gives City a healthy 64.3% chance of victory over two legs.

Were they to book a quarterfinal berth at Madrid’s expense - with Atalanta or Bayern Munich awaiting in the last eight - the 2023 Champions League winners would avenge their elimination by the Spaniards in last season’s knockout-phase playoffs.

Will Mbappé play in Wednesday’s first leg?

In Madrid’s 6-3 aggregate win over City 13 months ago, Kylian Mbappé tore the Sky Blues to shreds with a second-leg hat-trick in Spain, having already netted once in the opener at the Etihad Stadium.

This term, the striker heads into the knockout-phase proper as the Champions League’s leading scorer, with 13 goals in eight games. If Madrid can stay in the competition - and if Mbappé can sort out his mightily tiresome knee issue - he is well placed to challenge Cristiano Ronaldo’s single-season UCL goals record of 17.

But that knee injury has kept Mbappé out of Madrid’s last three games - and is set to deprive the 27-year-old of a place in Wednesday’s matchday squad. For the time being, at least, he won’t be having surgery; however, he remains absent from full Madrid practice as he undergoes what the club has termed a “conservative” course of treatment. Mbappé has placed himself in the hands of Dr. Bertrand Sonnery-Cotte - a world-renowned knee specialist known as “Dr. Miracle”.

As Diario AS editor-in-chief José Félix Díaz reported this weekend, Real Madrid’s aim is to get Mbappé fit for the return leg against City on Mar. 17.

Who else is on Real Madrid’s injury list?

Madrid are also eyeing a Mar. 17 return for Jude Bellingham, who continues to nurse a hamstring injury that has sidelined him since the beginning of February. Bellingham and Mbappé are joined in the sickbay by David Alaba (calf), Álvaro Carreras (calf), Dani Ceballos (calf), Éder Militao (hamstring) and Rodrygo Goes (ACL).

In more positive news for the 15-time European champions, Arbeloa this week welcomes back Dean Huijsen and Javier Mastantuono, who were both suspended for the Celta game. In addition, Eduardo Camavinga’s dental issues appear to have eased sufficiently to allow the midfielder to return to availability against City.

Who’s the referee for Real Madrid vs Manchester City?

UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, has confirmed Maurizio Mariani as the match referee at the Bernabéu. This will be the 44-year-old Italian’s third time in charge of a Real Madrid game - and his first knockout tie involving Los Merengues. Mariani previously oversaw Madrid’s 2-0 group-stage win over RB Leipzig in 2022/23, followed by the Spaniards’ shock round-robin defeat to Lille - a 1-0 reverse at LOSC’s Stade Pierre-Mauroy - two seasons later.

Since his Champions League debut in 2022, Mariani has taken charge of just one City game, also in the group stage: a 5-0 thumping of Sparta Prague in 2024/25.

Find out more about Maurizio Mariani in this profile by AS USA’s Andy Hall.

On this day in Real Madrid history…

It is exactly 124 years since Real Madrid played their first game… against themselves. Founded three days earlier, initially as Madrid Foot-Ball Club, the soccer giants-to-be organized a practice match between a ‘blue’ and a ‘red’ team, both made up of the club’s own players, on Sunday, Mar. 9, 1902.

Witnessing the exhibition of what was, at the time, very much a nascent sport in Spain, one spectator is reported to have asked another: “Are they playing rugby?” No, came the reply: “It’s a game that involves kicking that big ball.” Fifty-eight years later, Madrid would kick said ‘big ball’ into the net seven times in one game in Glasgow, in an era-defining European Cup final that did much to cement Los Blancos’ status as a juggernaut of the global game. But in the club’s maiden kickabout in 1902, goals were rather harder to come by: the ‘blue’ team won 1-0.

Two months on, on May 13, 1902, Madrid played what appears to have been their first official game - and their first Clásico - in a 3-1 defeat to Barcelona.

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