Real Madrid Have Ronaldo Fit as They Try to Book Their Place in the Final Tonight
Real Madrid are going to participate in their 6th straight UEFA Champions League semi final tonight when they take on Manchester City in the second leg of the tie at the Santiago Bernabau in Madrid. The first leg, held at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester was a darb 0-0 affair in which the two teams never looked like scoring a goal, however it is also important to keep in mind that Real Madrid had missed Cristiano Ronaldo owing to an injury in that game. Ronaldo is one of the club's greatest ever goal scorer and in all probability, he would have broken the stalemate like he invariably does. Ronaldo's fitness has been one of the key issues over the past week for the club and after much speculation, it has been announced by Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane that the star is available to start in the game tonight. He said, "Cristiano is OK, 100%. He trained this morning and will be there tomorrow,".
However, Zidane would still have a bit of a headache in relation to the absence of striker Karim Benzema from the side who has not been able to get fit on time for the clash. In a game in which goals could well be at a premium, the loss of Benzema could be a huge blow. It is expected that Isco is going to replace him in the side.
On the other hand, Manchester City have their own set of problems as right back Pablo Zabaleta and influential midfielders Samir Nasri and David Silva are all set to miss out on one of the biggest games in the history of the club. However, they would certainly be heartened by the fact that their midfield general Yaya Toure has recovered from his injury troubles and has travelled with the team to Spain. It is expected that he would be in the starting eleven tonight. Manchester City would be searching for the elusive away goal tonight so that Real Madrid have to score twice in order to go through but with Ronaldo in the side they will always be favourites to do so.
