KARIM BENZEMA DOUBTFUL FOR MANCHESTER CITY CLASH

The French centre forward is the latest Real Madrid star that is doubtful for the clash against Manchester City in the crucial semi final game on Tuesday.

The 28-year old striker limped out of their 3-2 win over Rayo Vallecano at the weekend in a key La Liga game. This leaves the head coach, Zinedine Zidane, with less options as the Spanish giant hope to clinch their 11th European title.

Real Madrid have not had the best of preparations in the run-up to the game, as the club hopes to win their first title under Zinedine Zidane. The La Liga seems a very close competition especially as defending champions, Barcelona, picked up form again after a temporary slip. Atletico Madrid are also not slacking.

Real Madrid coach on Benzema said:
“We’ll evaluate [Benzema], but he didn’t take a blow.

“I thought he did, but for now we’ll go back to Valdebebas and see what he has. I hope it’s nothing and that he can play on Tuesday, but we don’t know yet.”

Portuguese star, Cristiano Ronaldo is back in training after his injury scare and coach od City, Manuel Pellegrini, is expecting the player to feature against his side on Tuesday. He said:
“He’s a big player who makes the difference for Real Madrid, so it’s very important to stop him.
Gareth Bale on the other hand who is keen on his return to England said:

“The most important thing is to try and get an away goal, and then keep a clean sheet,” he said.
“Those are the two important things for us for being in the game because at the Bernabeu we’re very strong at home and we fancy our chances.

“For us it’s always a psychological advantage [to play at home]. We need to get a positive result at the Etihad and then being in front of our home fans at the Bernabeu knowing exactly what we need to do is alway a great help for us.”