But now they travel to Madrid, as the Premier League Champions and with real optimism to get a result and why not? The champions have started their defence with two wins and two draws. Although City are not playing the same flowing football that dominated the premier league last season, Madrid?s stuttering start will give them real hope that they can go to the Bernabeu and get a result.
Madrid have not started the season well at all. Defeat in the first leg against Barcelona followed by a draw in their opening fixture against Valencia and two defeats on their travels to Getafe and Sevilla. A home win against Granada and a blistering first half against Barcelona in the return leg are Madrid?s only highlights to a very poor start to the season.
A poor start to the season has also seen Ronaldo come out and declare that he is ?sad?. Not the player Real needed to come out and declare his unhappiness at the club. Ronaldo, a world record transfer fee of 80million pounds has more than lived up to his price tag. In La Liga alone, Ronaldo has struck 114 times in just 105 games and rivalled Lionel Messi to the claims of being the best player in the world. A player that clearly Madrid needs. But with his claims of being sad and a reported split in the changing room with the Portuguese speaking players and the Spanish, are cracks in the galacticos starting to show. After their latest defeat to Sevilla, Jose Mourinho has come out and questioned his teams commitment. Saying that apart from their victory against Barcelona in the super cup, the intensity in their play has not been there. An obvious ploy to get his team fired up and to prove him wrong for the visit of City.
With all this going on, Manchester City could face a wounded team who?s lacking in confidence and team spirit, or they could face a team coming at them at all angles to prove their critics wrong. One thing for sure, it?s not to be missed.
Source: DSG
Source: DSG