Alvaro Arbeloa and co entered the first leg with a long list of absentees as Los Blancos hope to recall some of their star names who missed this week’s win over Manchester City.
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Mbappe trained individually ahead of the first leg and missed the visit from Manchester City but Arbeloa indicated he was hopeful of recalling the France international back from a knee injury soon.
Bellingham has been nursing a hamstring issue and ahead of next week’s return leg in England, Mario Cortegana of The Athletic has reported that the England international is not expected to recover in time to face Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.
Furthermore, Ferland Mendy is also unavailable for the second leg and the trio of Mbappe, Alvaro Carreras and David Alaba face late fitness tests with some chance of featuring.
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Guardiola has the luxury of a near fully-fit squad as Manchester City embark upon a season-defining run of games over the next month, still in the mix of an unprecedented quadruple, whose chances look bleak now after the midweek battering they received by Real Madrid.
Josko Gvardiol remains out after undergoing surgery on a tibial fracture on his right leg and is expected to return to action in May, with Mateo Kovacic back in first-team training after recovering from an Achilles surgery he underwent in November 2025.
Eyebrows were raised at Guardiola’s selection at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday night as the Catalan deployed a midfield duo of Bernardo Silva and Rodri as opposed to his usual three-man team in the middle of the park.
Nico O’Reilly suffered a horrid time defending against hat-trick hero Valverde at left-back and the England international will either be taken out of the side or pushed forward into midfield in the second leg, with Rayan Ait-Nouri or Nathan Ake expected to come in for the Manchester City academy graduate.
