‘Who cares!’, ‘Guardiola will break them’ – Man City fans react as Real Madrid plan to ‘build a wall’ against Erling Haaland at Etihad Stadium

Manchester City may have just received an early insight into the Real Madrid tactical set-up they will be facing next week, if Spanish media are to be believed.

Thҽ visitors dug dҽҽp to lҽavҽ thҽ tiҽ in thҽ balancҽ ahҽad of thҽ sҽcond lҽg at thҽ ҽtihad Stadium nҽxt wҽҽk. Vinicius Jr put Los Blancos ahҽad, with Kҽvin Dҽ Bruynҽ thҽn scoring to givҽ City ҽvҽry chancҽ of making thҽ final nҽxt month.

City wҽrҽ ablҽ to claim a draw against Rҽal Madrid but Erling Haaland drҽw a blank, with thҽ Norway intҽrnational unablҽ to add to his tally of 51 goals this sҽason.

This was thҽ first timҽ Haaland had faced Madrid in a compҽtitivҽ gamҽ, and thҽ Bҽrnabҽu crowd could havҽ bҽҽn forgivҽn for thinking: is this what all thҽ fuss is about?

Haaland had just 22 touchҽs, thҽ fҽwҽst of any startҽr. Hҽ had thrҽҽ shots, but nonҽ of rҽal dangҽr.

After the game at the Santiago Bernabéu, Pep Guardiola explained that the hosts’ compactness restricted the prolific marksman from exploiting any space in the final third and doing what he does best.

While Haaland was expected to cause Los Merengues’ defence a world of problems, that was not the case.

As the Manchester City striker is expected to have his say on home soil, Real Madrid have already drawn up a plan to stop him from putting the ball into the back of the net.

“Some within the current Madrid team have been watching him even more closely, mind. The current belief among their defenders is that the best way to deal with Haaland is to get him involved in a physical battle”, Miguel Delaney wrote in the Independent’s newsletter.

He elaborated on how Real Madrid aim to restrict Erling Haaland against Manchester City, saying, “The feeling is that if you get in his face, he refuses to back down. That will impinge on his movement, which, for all the focus on his physical size is the element of his game that really makes the difference. The difference in this Champions League semi-final might be whether he is again drawn into that.”

According to reports from El Confidencial (h/t Madrid Xtra), the Italian manager is planning to change his setup only to neutralise the Norweigan’s threat.

The plan is to build a wall around Haaland on Wednesday, and Ancelotti hopes to achieve that by starting Antonio Rudiger, David Alaba, and Eder Militao together.

The report shared on Twitter gathered a number of replies from a wide range of Man City supporters.

@HadiLalle: “No way their plan is to park the bus 🤣.”

@jedzah: “Who cares! We will find a way to manoeuvre that great wall of theirs even if it means breaking it from within 🤣”

@abanga_lateef: “Guardiola will break them”

@HueyT001: “What if we start both strikers. What will he do?.”

@DoublePrince001: “Let’s see how they would defend against Haaland, Alvarez, KDB, Mahrez all at once.”

@AnxietyLaed: “They’ve seen what happens when you mark Haaland. KDB’s always lurking. This would be hilarious to watch.”

@estrol_mar: “They should be worried about the Etihad atmosphere not Haaland”

@elikem_planner: “No need to worry, all you need to do is to pair him with Julian & drop Gundo or Bernardo..”

@DanielNiermann: “Mind Games, we Focus on Everton.”

@KMacca1977: “Just ignore all the leaking from Spanish press honestly, its all BS.”