Champions League: De Bruyne headache for City, defensive worries for Madrid

Manchester City superstar Kevin De Bruyne missed out on Manchester City's clash against Fulham on Sunday through injury after putting in a sublime performance midweek against Arsenal on home soil.

The Belgian playmaker netted twice against Mikel Arteta's side, but he was forced to miss his team's 2-1 win away at Fulham.

"[De Bruyne] doesn't feel good," Pep Guardiola told Sky Sports.

"He has some injury and he couldn't travel. I don't know how long [he will be unavailable]."

De Bruyne was replaced by Julian Alvarez with 10 minutes to go in Man City's crucial duel against Arsenal.

Although he was not limping on his way to the bench, Guardiola told the press conference that his player asked to be subbed off after feeling some discomfort.

There is still more than a week to go for the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals between Real Madrid and Manchester City.

Meanwhile, their opponent are not without worries too.

At times this season, Real Madrid have reached the brilliant attacking heights of last year’s team, but Los Blancos have been let down by defensive frailties on numerous occasions.

Rivals Barcelona have conceded just 11 goals in La Liga, while the Madrid backline has been breached 30 times.

Madrid’s defensive struggles seemed to have been addressed last month but in recent games the problem has surfaced again.

In the league, Madrid have conceded six goals in the last two games. This came after a run of seven games in which Carlo Ancelotti’s side kept six clean sheets.

So how does Real Madrid’s defensive record this campaign compare to recent seasons? Since the 2019/20 season, they have finished with 43, 46 and 50 goals conceded in all competitions.

With nine or ten games remaining, they are on track to concede 50 again this season; above the average but the same number as in their double-winning 2021/22 campaign.

But while, on paper, the Madrid defence is operating on a similar level to last season the performances have undoubtedly dipped.

For example David Alaba, so impressive in his first season in Spain, has struggled at points this campaign. Antonio Rüdiger has also looked less assured in recent months and was at fault for Almería’s first goal last weekend.

In addition to dips in form there has been the long-term injury to Ferland Mendy, who has played just 28 minutes in the past three months.

Even Thibault Courtois, one of Madrid’s top performers last season, has missed games due to injury.

The season started with defensive fragilities and Los Blancos failed to keep consecutive clean sheets in the first three months.

In the coming weeks Madrid have both a Copa del Rey final and the Champions League semi-final to contend with, but that defensive fragility continues to be an issue.

After the humbling 4-2 loss against Girona, Ancelotti emphasised the danger of the recent defensive lapses: “If we don’t have a defensive commitment, this team has difficulty winning games.”

He reiterated those fears after last weekend’s win against Almería, in which Madrid conceded twice: “I don’t understand that in two games we have conceded six goals; we just relaxed.”

“We get to 3-0, we lower our concentration and they score, it makes me angry... Let it serve as a good wake-up call.”

With a semi-final tie against Manchester City and Erling Haaland on the horizon, Ancelotti will have to hope that his team takes heed of his words.