Manchester City will have to try and claim a positive result against Real Madrid in the second leg of their Champions League fixture without Nathan Ake, as reported by CityXtra.

What is the Man City vs Real Madrid team news?

The Premier League outfit are tantalisingly close to another European final, with only Real Madrid in their path on the route to get there. Pep Guardiola’s outfit will have to overcome the La Liga giants before they can even begin to think about a potential place in the showcase fixture against Inter in Istanbul.

The club fared well in the first leg of the semi-final tie though, managing to come away with a 1-1 draw. It was Vinicius Jr who struck first, putting the Spanish team in front in the first half of the competition despite Erling Haaland having a couple of half-chances to give his own side the lead beforehand. However, the Premier League side kept on pushing and were rewarded in the 67th minute, as a fierce strike from Kevin De Bruyne flew into the back of the net and levelled the scores.

Karim Benzema had an excellent opportunity to give his side the lead again ten minutes from time, only for Ederson to produce a super save and with that, the match ended in a draw.

City gave a good account of themselves and will now fancy their chances, on an even keel, of pulling off a result in the second leg at the Etihad Stadium. However, ahead of the fixture, Pep Guardiola has revealed a blow to the side in terms of injury news.

Speaking to the press this week, via CityXtra, the Catalan revealed that the club are set to be without Nathan Ake for the match against Madrid. The defender didn’t feature in the first leg of the fixture through injury and he will be sidelined for the return tie now too.

It will be a positive though for City supporters to hear that, aside from the former Bournemouth man, Guardiola has given the rest of his team a clean bill of health. Speaking about his squad’s fitness ahead of the game, Guardiola said: “Except Nathan [Ake], everyone is fit."

How will Man City lineup against Real Madrid?

It will be a blow to not have Ake available again considering how highly he is rated in the game. Virgil Van Dijk, who features in the same national team with the Netherlands, has called the player "fantastic" in the past for example and he has only got better at City. There is not a whole lot the club can do about his absence though and they will have to work with what they've got.

It wouldn’t be surprising to see Pep Guardiola pick a very similar team to the one that claimed the initial draw against Madrid, although the boss has hinted that he may switch things up for this next clash.

His side dominated possession, with a 55% share over the La Liga outfit, and they also passed the ball around with aplomb managing a 91% pass success rate over the course of the match. The only issue was their inability to create and finish chances, with the side having less big chances than Madrid and also having less shots in general than their Spanish rivals.

If Guardiola can get his team to make possession count in this next fixture, then it could go a long way towards helping the team to book their place in the final of the Champions League.