Cristiano Ronaldo faces his former club on Wednesday 13th February as Real Madrid entertain Manchester United in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 at the 85,450 capacity Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid.
We have now reached the knockout phase of the competition and there are some really exciting matches to look forward to, but this game is one of, if not the best, match-ups of them all with both teams known as giants of European football. The two clubs have won a combined twelve European cups and fifty-one top division league titles which hints at the quality of the football that will be witnessed on Wednesday. Both sides have an attacking style of play that is fantastic to watch and they boast many world-class players such as Wayne Rooney, Karim Benzema, Robin Van Persie, Mesut Ozil and Sergio Ramos. The player that has been talked about the most though is Cristiano Ronaldo. He spent six years at Manchester United, scoring 118 goals and winning three Premier League titles and the Champions League before moving to Real Madrid in 2009 where he has been just as successful, more so individually, scoring an incredible 182 goals in 179 appearances. It will be very interesting to see how he plays against his old teammates and his old club, of which he has said he loves dearly.
In order to advance to the Round of 16, Manchester United topped their group H table whilst Real Madrid came second in a tough group consisting of German champions Borussia Dortmund, English champions Manchester City and also Dutch champions Ajax. Currently, Madrid sit third in La Liga four points behind city rivals Atletico Madrid and thirteen points behind Barcelona. This has been a change for them as the league has nearly always been a two-horse race between Barcelona and themselves in the past. Meanwhile, in England, Manchester United are twelve points clear of last season’s champions Manchester City and have been unbeaten for an impressive fourteen games. However, league form could prove irrelevant in the Champions League as it is an entirely different level of football and it all comes down to a team’s performance on the night. The question is, which team will perform the best in this match and take the advantage into the second leg? All will be revealed at the Bernabeu on Wednesday night!
