Champions League: It’s That Old Los Blancos and Sky Blues Rumble

Real Madrid and Manchester City are set to get it on again after the 2025 Champions League play-off draw threw the two mega-clubs together for the fourth season in succession.

Last time Carlo Ancelotti’s team beat the Sky Blues on penalties to win the 2024 quarter final after the Citizens had totally dominated the game, missing a host of chances, so when the draw was made this latest rematch stood out. City manager Pep Guardiola joked that this fixture has become a derby but, in reality it couldn’t have been much worse for the 2023 European champions.

The two titans will clash at the Etihad on Tuesday 11^th February, and then at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium on the 19^th as part of a tasty run of fixtures for the Sky Blues which includes a trip to Arsenal to start the month and a home match against league leaders Liverpool at the end of February, and other league meetings with quality laden clubs Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotpsur as well as a romantic FA Cup tie with Leyton Orient.

Guardiola says his team will get on with it as always, but he bemoans the fixture pile-up and you can argue he would have had a quieter February had his team performed as expected during the league stage: “It’s tough playing against Real and the problem is, in the middle, playing Newcastle. They are always so kind with the calendar!” he said. “For many, many years it has been that way. I said many times, last season, we played the quarter-finals against Madrid and three days later we had the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley when we could have had more days. It’s always been like that.”

You know what? This avoidable game could have come at a better time for Los Blancos too. While the Sky Blues seem to be picking up form as they prepare to face Arsenal on Sunday 2^nd, Ancelotti’s men went down to a shock 1-0 loss to relegation battlers Espanyol on Saturday to see their lead at the top of La Liga trimmed to one point, and with a Madrid derby at home to second-placed Atletico just three days before they travel to Manchester this is a testing time for the Spaniards.

Los Blancos were relatively comfortable in the Champions League eight match format and finished in 11^th place, just a single point off the automatic qualification places, while the Sky Blues had to beat Club Brugges last week to squeeze through. Arguably, I’d say the pressure on Real Madrid is greater and this is a nightmare draw for them too.

Erling Haaland will lead Manchester City against Real Madrid to advance to the Champions League Round of 16 — Manchester City’s Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring a goal during Premier League match against Chelsea

The latest Champions League 2025 betting odds here at SBOTOP rate Real Madrid and Manchester City as fifth and sixth favourites to lift the title next May, at prices of 9.00 and 11.00; and watch those odds plummet for whichever team makes it through to the Round of 16. Some of the best players on the planet will be on show over the two legs. Erling Haaland and Phil Foden are back to somewhere near their best for the Citizens, while Kylian Mbappe seems to be settling in Madrid, now with 15 goals from 20 games and just two behind Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski in the race for the Golden Boot. And, with the Brazilian duo of Rodrygo and Vinicius Junior always exciting to watch this fixture, as ever, is box office stuff.

In other Champions League 2025 news there’s a Ligue 1 shootout as the surprise package of Stade Brest has drawn France league leaders Paris Saint-Germain. Eric Roy’s Pirates finished third in Ligue 1 last season and impressed in the Champions League, making the play-offs in 18^th place, four above Manchester City of course and only three places behind their opponents Paris Saint-Germain. Luis Enrique’s French champions are 13 points clear at the top of the Ligue 1 table this season after they thumped Brest in a league match on Saturday, 5-2, as Ousmane Dembele scored a hat-trick and Portugal star Goncalo Ramos helped himself to a brace. Stade Brest are down in eighth in the league but they are making a good job of balancing domestic and European duties.

The league loss to PSG just before they meet in Europe isn’t helpful and they will start as underdogs; but Enrique’s men are the ones under the most pressure.