WHEN AND WHERE
Gareth Taylor‘s side face European debutants Las Blancas at the Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium in the first leg of our Round Two clash on Tuesday 30 August and kick-off is at 21:00 local time (20:00 UK time).
The game will be broadcast live on CITY+.
Available across all digital platforms - mancity.com, Man City app and Smart TV, CITY+ provides Cityzens with unrivalled access to new and exclusive City content.
It will allow you to watch full match replays of all men’s and women’s matches 24 hours after the final whistle and original CityTV productions, such as the recently released Kevin De Bruyne documentary, Made in Belgium.
You can sign up to a 30-day free trial, after which CITY+ is just £1.99GBP / month.
Find out more and sign up, here.
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If you can’t tune in, you can follow all the action as it unfolds on our dedicated matchday Twitter account: @ManCityWomen.
A comprehensive match report, as well as reaction from Gareth Taylor and one of our players, will also be available just after full-time here on mancity.com and the Man City App.
CITY’S EUROPEAN HISTORY
City made an instant impact after making our debut in the competition in 2016/17.
In our first two seasons, Nick Cushing’s side reached the semi-finals, losing to eventual winners Lyon in our maiden campaign, and being edged out by the same side in 2017/18.
However, since then we have failed to go beyond the quarter-final stage.
In 2018/19 we fell at the first hurdle, losing to Atletico Madrid in the Round of 32, who got better of us for a second time in the last 16 stage the following year.
Convincing victories over Goteborg and Fiorentina saw Gareth Taylor guide City to the quarter-final stage in his first season in charge, but our European dreams ended with a 4-2 defeat on aggregate to Barcelona, who went onto lift the trophy.
RULES
For the first time in its history, the Women’s Champions League will feature a 16-team group stage, which replaces the knockout Round of 16. The top two in each of the four groups will progress to the quarter-finals.
Two qualifying rounds precede the group stage - split into champions and league paths - which will ensure at least 10 nations feature in the group stage.
Round Two consists of home and away ties over two legs.
The away goals rule will no longer be applied. In a knockout game, if the scores are level after 90 minutes, 30 minutes of extra time will be played and, if the scores remain tied, the game will be settled by a penalty shootout.
Officials
Referee: Sandra Bastos (POR)
Assistant referees: Olga Almeida (POR), Sandrine Gonçalves Santos (POR)
Fourth official: Ana Afo (POR)
INJURY NEWS
Gareth Taylor has confirmed City will be without goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck, who has a calf injury.
Lucy Bronze and Ellen White will also miss the game with both players undergoing rehabilitation periods, while Chloe Kelly (ACL) is a long-term absentee.
Former City forward Kosovare Asllani will miss the game for Madrid, having tested positive for COVID-19, and Marta Cardona de Miguel is sidelined with a knee injury.
Gareth Taylor preview
“Two teams that missed out on initial qualification - two of the seeded teams draw each other.
“It’s a tough opponent but one we’re confident about in terms of what we can achieve and obviously there’s a big thing at stake qualifying for the groups.
“It’s come quite quickly. It’s a weird situation having that [game] first but it’s exciting. We’ve never played Real Madrid before and these are the type of games you want to be involved in.
“We got some of their pre-season footage and final games of last season. They made acquisitions like we have.
“We’ve viewed some stuff. Viewing us would’ve been more difficult. That’s the situation we face no matter who we play, you’ll always have that issue when it’s the first game of the season going off old footage rather than recent stuff.”
Vicky Losada preview
“People might think that because of the name, it’s an experienced team but it’s not.
“This is only their second year in the Spanish league. The girls are still trying to know each other.
“They have very good, talented players but the experience we have – to have reached the quarter-finals last season and the semi-finals previously – is good.
“It takes time to build a team but one of things I noticed here is how well the team know each other.
“We have to take that responsibility with no pressure. We are an experienced team and it will be a good game.
“This team is ready to fight for titles.”
Second leg date
Manchester City v Real Madrid
Wednesday 8 September
19:00 (UK time)
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