CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Adebayor Predicts Winner Of Man City vs Real Madrid Clash

A former Manchester City and Real Madrid striker, Emmanuel Adebayor, has predicted that Juventus forward, Cristiano Ronaldo would have made the Los Blancos favourites to overturn a first-leg deficit in their Champions League fixture against Pep Guardiola’s men.

Man City will host Real Madrid at the Etihad Stadium on Friday night.

The Premier League giants defeated Zinedine Zidane’s side 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu in the first leg of the round of 16 clash back in February before the COVID-19 lockdown break.

But Adebayor believes the La Liga champions still have the players capable of turning the tie around but the presence of Ronaldo, who won the Champions League four times with Real Madrid before departing for Juventus in 2018, would have meaningfully increased their chances.

“If you had asked me that question 2 years ago, I would have said yes [Madrid can turn the fixture around] ,” Adebayor told AS.

“Madrid would have been favourites with Cristiano.

“Back then, they had Cristiano, who’s a goal machine.

“He can make the difference at any moment, and he would give the team 50 goals a season.

“They lost the first leg at home, and it is going to be very difficult without the fans, against Manchester City, the city, the weather, but it is not impossible.

“Madrid have players with a lot of experiences like Marcelo, Benzema and Courtois, and they’re used to playing in big games like this one.”

He added:

“Without Cristiano, Madrid know what they have lost, but maybe not what they could have won if he was still there.

“I think maybe they thought they would get another player like Ronaldo, but players like him only come along once every 200 years.”