Champions League: Cristiano Ronaldo out of Real Madrid lineup vs. Manchester City

Real Madrid will attempt to win the first leg of their Champions League semifinal against Manchester City without Cristiano Ronaldo in the lineup.

Real Madrid are hoping to get back to the Champions League final for the first time since 2014, but they will have to do so without Cristiano Ronaldo in the first leg. Despite the fact that he picked up an injury against Villarreal and sat out their subsequent La Liga game against Rayo, he was still named to the Champions League squad.

However, when the lineups were announced, Ronaldo didn’t even appear on the bench:

It’s understandable that Zinedine Zidane will want his striker healthy for the return leg at home, which will be next week, but he could’ve found some better replacements for him.

With Ronaldo out of the lineup, this would’ve been a perfect chance to play James Rodriguez, or even Jese, but both sit on the bench while Lucas Vasquez takes Ronaldo’s place in the starting lineup. James, who is reportedly unsettled in Madrid, must surely worry about his future at the club following his latest omission from the team.

These lineup changes will surely make Manchester City feel good about their chances of springing an upset in the first leg, but when it comes to the Champions League, the visitors rarely focus on winning the first leg. More often than not, they will play to a draw and try to score an away goal to give themselves an advantage in the aggregate. It will be interesting to see if Real Madrid will adopt that policy at the Etihad.

Then again, Madrid may very well still feel confident in winning. Without Cristiano in the lineup against Rayo Vallecano at the weekend, Gareth Bale stepped up and scored a brace to keep Real Madrid in the La Liga race. As long as two thirds of BBC are in the lineup, they’re still a very difficult team to deal with. And with Cristiano Ronaldo having twice as many goals in the Champions League as the next man, it’s safe to assume that his lead at the top of the goalscoring charts is secure.

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