Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane has confirmed that Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema should both be fit to face Manchester City on Tuesday night.
Los Blancos travel to the Etihad hoping to move one step closer to lifting an 11th European Cup, whilst Manuel Pellegrini’s home side are in unchartered waters having qualified for the semi-finals for the first time with victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the last eight.
Both teams rested key players in their respective league fixtures at the weekend but there were huge doubts over the fitness of Ronaldo, who was missing from the matchday squad entirely on Saturday after picking up a slight knock against Villarreal last week.
Benzema started Saturday’s 3-2 victory over Rayo Vallecano but was taken off in the 42nd minute of play but Zidane has revealed that both attackers will be fit to feature against City.
“They are 100 per cent,” Zidane told reporters. “We will test everything but the idea is that they will play. They have both made good progress and we will see how they are tomorrow. Everyone wants to play these games.”
Zidane added that Real’s final training session before the game “will be key” for Benzema, but added that “he should make it for tomorrow’s game”, meaning the striker is likely to lead the line at the Etihad barring any further setbacks.
City haven’t been so lucky though as it emerged this morning that ex- Barcelona midfielder Yaya Toure was forced to sit out training on Monday after getting injured in their weekend victory over Stoke City.
“Yaya is going to be out, I think. He has not recovered from the muscle injury,” Pellegrini said during his pre-match press conference, as quoted by Sky Sports.
City rested Kevin De Bruyne in a bid to keep him fresh for tomorrow night though and Sergio Aguero took his Premier League goals tally to 23 for the season before being taken off with 25 minutes left to play.
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