Rodri ready to face Real Madrid

Manchester City beat Bayern Munich on a 4-1 aggregate to advance to the semifinals of the Champions League. This is the third year in a row that City has made it to this stage, but this time, they’ll hope to make it past it. In a juicy rematch of last year’s semifinal, City will look for revenge on last year’s champions, Real Madrid. City suffered a heartbreaking loss to Madrid last year on a 6-5 aggregate and Madrid went on to beat Liverpool in the final.

Rodri ready for Real

Los Blancos advanced to this stage on an easy 4-0 aggregate win over Chelsea. City didn’t have too tough a time getting past Bayern either. City boss Pep Guardiola said he “had a feeling” they would face Madrid again this year. The reigning champions have already won 14 European Cups - twice as many as any other team,

“All clubs know if you want to win the Champions League, you need to beat Real Madrid,” he said.

This could be the year City finally does it. City defender Rodri believes this team is capable.

“We respect Real Madrid, knowing the team they are, how they are in this competition,” said Rodri. “But know our own potential and we know what we have to do to beat them.”

City have one big weapon on their side, and that is striker Erling Haaland. He contributed two of their four goals across the two legs in the quarterfinals and has now 48 goals on the season. Strangely, in the second leg of City’s tie with Bayern, Haaland missed a penalty kick, to the disbelief of all those watching.

“Obviously, he’s human, he makes mistakes sometimes, too,” said Rodri. “But what’s important is how he fixed the situation. It’s hard to see a player like him make mistakes, but when he does, he relentlessly makes up for it in the next moment.”

Make up for it, he did. Kevin DeBruyne breezed past Bayern defenders to curve the ball to Haaland, who shot it right past Yann Sommer for the 4-1 lead.

The first leg of the Champions League semifinals between Manchester City and Real Madrid will be on Tuesday, May 9 at 3 p.m. ET at the Santiago Bernabeu. The second will be played at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday, May 17 at 3 p.m. ET.