Real Madrid look to build on good record versus English when they face Man City

25 April 2016 02:53

Real Madrid will look to build on their positive record against English sides when they battle Manchester City for a place in the Champions League final.

The Spanish giants, who have reached a competition-record 27th semi-final, have won 13 of their previous 32 games against teams from England, drawing nine times and losing on 10 occasions.

Zinedine Zidane's men, who travel to Manchester for the first leg on Tuesday (April 26) before hosting City at the Bernabeu on May 4, also have a good history against English sides in two-legged knockouts.

The 10-time European champions have won seven of the 11 ties played, including the last two: 3-2 against Manchester United in 2013 and 5-0 against Tottenham in 2011.

If City are to make next month's final at the San Siro, they will have to defeat a Spanish side in a two-legged European tie for the first time in almost 50 years.

They last achieved the feat en route to winning the European Cup Winners' Cup in the 1969/70 season.

Goals from Alan Oakes, Colin Bell and Ian Bowyer gave City a 3-0 second-leg victory over Athletic Bilbao at Maine Road that campaign to knock the Basque side out 6-3 on aggregate.

City lost over two legs to Valencia in the first round of the 1972/73 UEFA Cup and have twice been defeated by Barcelona in the Champions League last-16 in the past two seasons.

On a more positive note for Manuel Pellegrini's team, they recorded home and away victories against Villarreal in the group stages of the 2011/12 Champions League before repeating the achievement against Sevilla earlier this campaign.

Real and City have only met twice in competitive clashes, both during the Champions League group stages three seasons ago.

Late goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema gave Real a 3-2 victory in the Bernabeu after Edin Dzeko and Aleksandar Kolarov had twice put Roberto Mancini's men ahead, either side of Marcelo's equaliser.

Sergio Aguero's penalty, following Alvaro Arbeloa's red card, cancelled out Benzema's early opener in the 1-1 draw at the Etihad in the return game.

Real's overall record against English teams:

P32 W13 D9 L10 F47 A38

City's overall record against Spanish sides:

P15 W5 D3 L7 F25 A24

Source: PA