“That’s a point in our favor” - Dani Carvajal highlights advantage Real Madrid hold over Manchester City in Champions League quarter-final
Real Madrid defender Dani Carvajal has explained an advantage that the Spanish side hold over their UEFA Champions League quarter-final opponents Manchester City.
Los Blancos host the first leg of this enthralling tie at the Santiago Bernabeu on April 9. In the meantime, Carvajal has said that his club don't go into this match as the favorites, which could end up benefitting them.
Manchester City are the current Champions League holders, and managed to win the Premier League and FA Cup last season. This year, they are in the midst of a title race, only a point behind the English top-flight leaders Arsenal.
Given Pep Guardiola's team's dominance of late, Carvajal said in a recent interview (via Madrid Universal):
"They are very high level rival and no one is going to put the favorites tag on us; that's a point in our favor."
When these two sides met in the semi-finals of the Champions League in the 2022/23 season, it was Manchester City who got the better of their opponents. They won the tie 5-1 on aggregate.
Although 32, Carvajal continues to play a prominent role for Real Madrid. This season, he's made 31 appearances across competitions at right-back, bagging five goals and four assists.
His performances have also helped the 14-time Champions League winners to the top of La Liga. Currently, they hold an eight-point advantage over Barcelona, who are placed second in the table.
Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois left in tears as he suffers fresh knee injury - Reports
Real Madrid's goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was reportedly left in tears after suffering yet another knee injury (via GOAL). The Belgium international had already remained absent for the rest of the season after tearing his ACL in August last year.
After several months of nursing the problem, the shot-stopper was only a few weeks away from returning to first-team action. It was expected that Courtois would make his return for Real Madrid after the ongoing international break.
However, with this news, it looks certain that the 31-year-old will miss the rest of the campaign. The last time he failed to make an appearance throughout an entire season was during the 2009/10 campaign when Courtois was just 17.
Overall, he's made 230 appearances across competitions for his current employers, bagging 91 clean sheets in the process.