Manchester City

Manchester City Lineup vs Real Madrid CONFIRMED; Why Is Rodri Not Playing?

Sachin Bhat

Published - Dec 10, 2025, 06:52 PM

3 min

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Summary

Manchester City and Real Madrid meet for the fifth consecutive season in the UEFA Champions League
The Sky Blues are winless in their last four games against Los Blancos

Manchester City make a daunting visit to Santiago Bernabeu in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday, looking to pick themselves up from a shock loss in their last game. The Sky Blues were beaten 2-0 by Bayer Leverkusen at the Etihad on 26 November, succumbing to their first European defeat of the season. But since then, Pep Guardiola's side have shown signs of improvement as they have won their next three - all coming in the Premier League.

They've been on a free-scoring form during this run, netting 11 times, which bodes well ahead of their reunion with an injury-riddled Madrid. City aren't fully in a fine fettle either, as midfield anchorman Rodri is currently out with a hamstring injury and remains a few weeks away from returning to the squad.

With three wins and 10 points, City are down in 12th position of the Champions League table, six behind Los Blancos. Besides the 1-0 loss to Liverpool, Xabi Alonso's team have won the other four matches in the competition to garner 12 points. Spearheaded by the relentless Kylian Mbappe who has bagged nine goals already, including a spectacular four-goal salvo against Olympiacos in their last European outing, Madrid haven't let their stuttering domestic form creep into their European run, something that Alonso would expect to see again tonight after the disappointing 2-0 home defeat to Celta Vigo in LaLiga on Sunday.

However, the manager has a big concern going into the clash as Mbappe is doubtful after sustaining a knee injury during the weekend loss, while his compatriot Eduardo Camavinga is also unavailable. Besides, Trent Aelxander-Arnold, Ferland Mendy, Daniel Carvajal and Eder Militao are out injured too.