Real Madrid and Manchester City's route to UEFA Champions League semi-final

The semi-final will take place in Etihad on Thursday, May 18

Real Madrid are set to face Manchester City in the Champions League semi-final, second leg, on Thursday. Both teams have been successful in their respective leagues, Real Madrid is second in LaLiga right now, and Manchester City have turned it around this season, with the hope of winning the Premier League title and making it a three-peat. Let's take a look at their journey in the Champions League.

Real Madrid

The Spanish giants started their Champions League campaign on a high note. They have been successful in this league and will continue to make a push for consecutive League final appearances.

To reach the semi-final, Real Madrid started their campaign by beating the Scottish club Celtic. Eden Hazard scored his first goal for Madrid after recovering from his injury. The second matchday saw them face the German club RB Leipzig, which resulted in Real Madrid winning by 2-0. Shakhtar faced them twice in 2 weeks with Madrid coming out on top on one occasion and a draw before they went to face Leipzig, where they were beaten by the home team.

Round of 16 was one sided as Chelsea were beaten by Real Madrid 2-0 in both the legs, Real Madrid completely dominated in both the legs, even though Chelsea tried their best to score the tie ended in Real Madrid's favour.

The Champions League draw gave Liverpool a chance to take revenge as Liverpool faced Real Madrid again in the Champions League quarter-final. The match started on a high note with Liverpool taking a lead given by Courtois and soon they doubled their lead, but Real Madrid fought back in the match, ultimately winning it by 5-2.

In the second leg Liverpool couldn't score a goal in the entire match at Bernabeu, Karim Benzema scored the only goal in the match. Carlo Ancelotti's men won the matchup by an aggregate score of 6-2.

The first leg of the Champions League took place at Bernabeu, the match started with City keeping the ball and Madrid counter-attacking, one such attack took place, Camavinga took the ball at the left wing and assisted Vinicius who scored from outside the box. In the second half City were dominating and Kevin de Bruyne's strike made it 1-1.

Manchester City host Real Madrid at Etihad, both teams looking to book their spot in the final.

Manchester City

Manchester City are trying to win their first-ever Champions League title, even though they reached the final couple of years back when Chelsea defeated them 1-0.

This season they added one vital key to their squad, the missing number 9, which they signed in the likes of Erling Haaland who has been phenomenal for the club, scoring more than 50 goals this season. His brace helped them win their first match of the season, in the second match Haaland and City face Dortmund, Haaland was looking to make mark against his old club and he certainly did by scoring the goal which sealed the match 2-0.

Their matchdays against Copenhagen were completely opposite as City won 5-0 at Etihad and tying it 0-0 in the their second encounter against the same club; Dortmund was able to hold City at Idunal park, before beating sevilla in their final matchday.

In the Round of 16, City faced the German club RB Leipzig, in the first leg it was a little bit nervy for Pep Guardiola as Leipzig was able to dismiss the lead taken by Riyad Mahrez, in the 70th minute they stunned City to make it 1-1 before heading to Etihad. The second leg was one team show, City destroyed Leipzig by scoring 7 goals with Haaland scoring 5 of those goals.

Their win in the Round of 16 set up a mouth-watery match, Pep was about to face his older team Bayern in the quarter-finals. Bayern tried hard to score in the first leg but it was City who were able to score three goals, and finally letting Haaland win his first match against Bayern. The second leg setup at Allianz was much more exciting as fans anticipated Bayern to win, City were as good as always and came out on top against them, the score line at the end of the tie was 4-1 aggregate.

City was about to face their rivals Real Madrid in the semi-final, and the first leg at Bernabeu was a breath-taking encounter. Kevin De Bruyne's world-class strike made it 1-1 before heading to Etihad for the second leg, which is about to take place in a couple of days; City will look to upset Madrid in the second leg.