Real Madrid vs Man City LIVE: Erling Haaland starts on bench in Champions League play-off decider

Pep Guardiola was Bayern Munich’s manager when he heard whispers about a young talent in the academy that, three decades earlier, had produced him. It was another midfielder, a Barcelona speciality.

The boy seemed a blend of nurture and nature, at the finishing school at La Masia that Guardiola rates as the best in the game, with the genes of his father Fran Gonzalez, perhaps Deportivo la Coruna’s greatest ever player, a midfielder who was a LaLiga winner and a Spain teammate of the current Manchester City manager.

Pep Guardiola makes five changes to the Manchester City team that started the first leg.

Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji drop out for Abdukodir Khusanov and Nico Gonzalez while Jack Grealish, Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland are replaced with Phil Foden, Ilkay Gundogan and Omar Marmoush.

Bernardo Silva believes so. He said: “Always believe that it’s possible, always believe no matter what happens in the first 20, 30 minutes of the game that we can stay in the tie, and then follow the plan.

“We know how good they are in running, countering, putting you under pressure in this stadium and we need to deal with those situations.”

Man City XI: Ederson, Khusanov, Stones, Dias, Gvardiol, Nico Gonzalez, Gundogan, Bernardo, Foden, Savinho, Marmoush

Carlo Ancelotti makes just one change to the Real side that lined-up at the Etihad Stadium.

Antonio Rudiger comes into the team and replaces Eduardo Camavinga.

Aurelien Tchouameni moves into midfield alongside Dani Ceballos.

The switch makes Madrid more defensively sound at the back.

Real Madrid XI: Courtois; Valverde, Rudiger, Asencio, Mendy; Tchouameni, Ceballoes, Bellingham; Rodrygo, Mbappe, Vinicius Jr

Man City midfielder, Bernardo Silva, said: “It’s a mix of emotions; we knocked them out of the Champions League twice, they knocked us out twice.

“So now it’s the fifth time that we go against each other.

“When you get eliminated twice, it’s not nice, especially given the way some of them were.”

Real Madrid are unbeaten in their last three games with each match being a tough fixture either in LaLiga or the Champions League.

Ancelotti is proud of the way his team are performing and they can cap off a tough run by reaching the last-16 tonight.

The manager said: “These have been three demanding matches. We have not only had good results, the team is working well.

“This gives us confidence and a positive spirit.

“We have to continue playing well, with quality, but we are also benefitting from sacrifice and collective commitment.”

Carlo Ancelotti also addressed the form of Kylian Mbappe and praised the temperament of the Real forward.

Of Mbappe, Ancelotti said: “I don’t see anything new. He is motivated, physically fit, and he shows it.

“He handles stress very well before the match, he remains very calm. Right now, he is doing very well.”

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti is looking forward to tonight’s match and hopes his team repeat what they did at the Etihad last week.

He said: “We’re trying to repeat last week’s performance. It’s a fun tie where we have to give everything for 90 minutes.”