Real Madrid winger Rodrygo is hoping for a rare Erling Haaland off day this evening after admitting 'no one knows how to stop' the Manchester City star.
City travel to the Spanish capital for the first leg of their Champions League semi-final this evening, returning to the scene of last season's gut-wrenching elimination. Pep Guardiola's side dominated both games, but with a two-goal lead going into the 90th minute at the Bernabeu, conceded twice to Rodrygo before a Karim Benzema extra-time penalty sent them out.
Much of City's problems in that second leg came from not killing the tie with more goals, but with Haaland now leading the line that should be no issue. The Norwegian has scored an incredible 51 goals this season, including 12 in his eight Champions League appearances.
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“Haaland scores a lot of goals," Rodrygo told RTVE. "No one knows how to stop him. I hope he doesn’t score against us. Manchester City are always scary. They are a great team, they play very well, but we are confident that we can win."
This will be Haaland's first competitive appearance against Madrid, having played against them in a 2019 pre-season friendly during his time at Red Bull Salzburg. But Los Blancos boss Carlo Ancelotti has been watching the Blues and planning how to keep their star quiet.
“He’s very dangerous," Ancelotti admitted of Haaland. "He’s incredibly impressive when it comes to scoring goals, that’s obvious.
“Talking about Haaland means not just talking about one player, but also about a complete team that attacks and has lots of ideas... Our game plan isn’t just to stop Haaland, but rather to stop a team that seems unstoppable. But I think it’s possible for us. We can win.”
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