In the second leg of the UEFA Europa League Round of 8, La Liga powerhouse Sporting Madrid will welcome English Premier League giants Manchester City at home. In the first round, Man City took a narrow 1-0 lead, and this time, they only need a draw to qualify for the quarterfinals. It is expected that Man City will stick to its good possession style and try to slow down the pace of the game to stabilize the lead. The Malaysians, on the other hand, have their backs against the wall, and with a recent six-game winless streak at home and a goal difference of two goals or less, they are more inclined to be conservative and look for a narrow win with a low goal difference of 2.5 goals. (Now 643 Thursday, 3:00 a.m. live)
The first leg showed a clear difference in strength between the two teams, with Manchester City firmly in control, while Madrid set up a "550" defensive formation, giving up on offense, and the zero-shot statistic was sarcastically commented on by City's leader, Gordiona, but in the end Madrid failed to hold off their opponents, and the road to progression is bound to be a bumpy one.
Given the fact that the team is not good at active offense and needs to guard against Man City's quick counter-attacks, it is expected that the team's strategy will be cautious and will not be overly aggressive even if the situation forces them to do so. The team's pursuit of solidity is reflected in the fact that it was down by one goal twice in the first leg of the UEFA Europa League knockout round, only to come back with scores of 1-0 and 2-0 in the second leg. However, the team's defeat against Mallorca on the road last time in the league is going to be even more difficult for them to score against City, who are very good at controlling the ball in the league this time around.
Man City need to get in shape
Manchester City experienced an exciting duel with Liverpool in the Premier League last Sunday night, and although they still hold the initiative in the title race after the draw, the players are physically exhausted and need time to recover. In this match, City is expected to adopt a defensive counter-attack strategy to avoid the impact of physical exhaustion on their subsequent play. Although the team has a lot of stars, it lacks a striker with high scoring efficiency, forcing manager Gaudiona to adopt a strikerless formation, and the first half of the first round did not have a single goal, so it is expected that the game may once again fall into a stalemate, and the number of goals will not be too many.
