Real Madrid News
Manchester City defender says that Real Madrid are the ‘kings’ of the Champions League
Real Madrid take on Manchester City in the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League in just ten days. The first leg will be held at Etihad, and the second leg, a week later, at the Bernabeu.
In the aftermath of City’s loss to Liverpool yesterday, Oleksander Zinchenko talked to the press where he answered some questions about the clash against Real Madrid via Diario AS.
When asked to comment on the prospect of facing record Champions League winners, the fullback called them the ‘kings of the competition.’
“They are the kings of this competition. They have won many Champions Leagues in the past and they are obviously one of the best teams in the world, but before the match against Madrid we have many games to play.”
The Ukrainian international was then asked if the game against Los Blancos was going to be the most difficult challenge yet.
“At this stage of the season, I would say that each match is like a final. We are still fighting for two titles.”
Karim Benzema has been the favourite talking point of every football enthusiast this season. The Frenchman has been in unreal form and is undoubtedly Real Madrid’s best player.
“They have a lot of quality players, some of them are the best in the world. Right now Karim Benzema is one of the best strikers in the world. It’s incredible how he finds goals, so we’ll have to see how deal with it. Coach will tell us how to do it,” Zinchenko said about the Frenchman.
Finally, the fullback was asked if the Madrid based side’s ability to pull off comebacks was worrying.
“We’ll see, we’ll see what happens. For now we have the Brighton game.”
Arda Guler’s Real Madrid stint has not gotten off to the start he would have hoped to have given the expectation that preceded the transfer.
Having joined in the summer after Real Madrid outbid their competition to win him over from Fenerbahce for a 20-million-euro fee, buzz was high as the winger was expected to slot into the team quite seamlessly, albeit on a rotational basis.
Unfortunately for the 18-year-old, he has been constantly marred by injuries since completing the move.
Reports have stated that after Guler picked up his third injury since his move, Real Madrid have been concerned and want to take things slow with the player to ensure he is fit as soon as possible after an injury to his quadriceps this time.
The Turk is yet to make his competitive debut for the club, and Real Madrid even sacked their medical chief in November, in light of their injury crises since the beginning of the season.
No loan deal for Guler
However, according to Fabrizio Romano in a recent YouTube video, he states that Madrid maintain full trust and patience in the youngster.
Despite his bad luck with injuries, the latest of which he is scheduled to return from after Christmas, the Galacticos have no intention of loaning out Guler to Turkish clubs despite lots of speculation of them doing so of late.
Romano states that Madrid remain firm on not shaking things up too much with the squad, and they want to keep their roster stable, including Arda Guler.
They want to extend their full support and protection to the player as he aims to return to full fitness and finally make his bow for Madrid either by the end of this month or in 2024.
