Cristiano Ronaldo And Karim Benzema Fit For Real Madrid's Clash At Manchester City

 

Real Madrid forwards Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema should both be fit to start against Manchester City in the Champions League semi-final first leg on Tuesday. Ronaldo did not feature in the win over Rayo Vallecano in La Liga at the weekend after pulling up with a muscle problem in the midweek victory over Villarreal.

Benzema limped off during the Vallecano victory with an apparent hamstring problem but head coach Zinedine Zidane says both should be 100 per cent for the clash at the Etihad. Zidane said: “We will test everything but the idea is that they will play. They have both made good progress and we will see how they are tomorrow. Everyone wants to play these games”

City have never reached the last four of the Champions League before while Real Madrid have won Europe's premier club competition 10 times, but Zidane insists the English side are a real threat. He said “You can prepare all you want for a big game but the game can turn out totally different than how you envisaged. The opponent is a great side. If you leave City space, they can hurt you in that space. The players get between the lines well. Tomorrow we will try to stop them hurting us in those areas. We've got to try and be strong defensively, because we know we are going to be put under pressure. If we can be strong and organised I think we'll get the chance to unleash our own weapons on the attack”