Real Madrid vs Manchester City Prediction, Odds and Picks for Today, 03/11/26

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Real Madrid and Manchester City meet again in what is now the 3rd-most common fixture in the history of the Champions League, and before it the European Cup. That is despite the fact that the Citizens only qualified once for Europe’s premier competition before 2011-12, demonstrating just how often these 2 teams have met in recent years. In fact, this is the 5th time in the last 6 seasons that the pair have met in the knockout stages of the Champions League, combined with a league phase meeting back in December. Pep Guardiola’s men won that game 2-1 at the Bernabeu, and they are favorites to repeat the trick with Los Blancos struggling as of late.

Alvaro Arbeloa’s reign has been largely disappointing following Xabi Alonso’s departure, and 2 losses from their last 3 La Liga matches have left them be 4 points adrift of rivals Barcelona in the title race. Arbeloa’s team is also without many of their key players through injury, with Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham, Eder Militao, Rodrygo, Dani Ceballos and David Alaba all expected to miss out. They needed a 95th-minute winner to get the better of Celta Vigo on Friday and were not hugely convincing against Benfica in the knockout play-off round.

Manchester City have been in better form, winning 9 and drawing 2 of their last 11 games in all competitions, and they rested some key players in their 3-1 win over Newcastle in the FA Cup last time out. With a rested Haaland and considering the fact that the Citizens had eight shots on target compared to Real’s one in the first game between these two, it looks worth siding with Guardiola’s team to come out on top in this first leg.