{"id":44511,"date":"2026-02-28T14:03:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T08:33:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/?p=44511"},"modified":"2026-02-28T14:03:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T08:33:31","slug":"real-madrids-midfield-faces-a-major-test-ahead-of-man-city-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/football\/champions-league\/real-madrids-midfield-faces-a-major-test-ahead-of-man-city-clash\/","title":{"rendered":"Real Madrid\u2019s midfield faces a major test ahead of Man City clash"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"104\" data-end=\"349\">Real Madrid\u2019s preparations for their blockbuster showdown against Manchester City have suffered a significant setback, with key midfielder <strong data-start=\"243\" data-end=\"284\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Jude Bellingham<\/span><\/span><\/strong> now expected to miss the crucial fixture due to injury concerns.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"351\" data-end=\"814\">According to reports from <strong data-start=\"377\" data-end=\"418\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">COPE<\/span><\/span><\/strong>, Bellingham is on the road to recovery and has recently resumed light training with the ball. However, the medical staff are unwilling to take risks, believing the England international is not yet physically ready to return to competitive action. His absence would be a major blow to Alvaro Arbeloa\u2019s tactical plans, given Bellingham\u2019s influence in both attack and midfield control this season.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"816\" data-end=\"1107\">The injury list does not end there. Defensive pillar <strong data-start=\"869\" data-end=\"910\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">\u00c9der Milit\u00e3o<\/span><\/span><\/strong> and midfield option <strong data-start=\"931\" data-end=\"972\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Dani Ceballos<\/span><\/span><\/strong> are also expected to be sidelined for the high-stakes encounter, further weakening Madrid\u2019s depth at a critical stage of the campaign.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1109\" data-end=\"1452\">Meanwhile, all eyes are on <strong data-start=\"1136\" data-end=\"1177\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Kylian Mbapp\u00e9<\/span><\/span><\/strong>, who is racing against time to be fit for the clash. The French star is reportedly dealing with knee pain but remains determined to attempt a late recovery. His availability will likely be decided closer to matchday, making him a major doubt rather than a confirmed starter.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1454\" data-end=\"1781\">With Bellingham, Milit\u00e3o, and Ceballos likely unavailable, <strong data-start=\"1513\" data-end=\"1554\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Real Madrid<\/span><\/span><\/strong> could be forced into tactical adjustments when they face the reigning champions, <strong data-start=\"1636\" data-end=\"1677\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Manchester City<\/span><\/span><\/strong>. The match, already billed as a European heavyweight battle, now carries an added layer of uncertainty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Real Madrid\u2019s preparations for their blockbuster showdown against Manchester City have suffered a significant setback, with key midfielder Jude Bellingham\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":44512,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4652],"tags":[3686,1823,3796,4877,3467,266,3967,178,48,4622],"class_list":["post-44511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-champions-league","tag-david-ornstein","tag-fabrizio-romano","tag-football","tag-football-news","tag-jude-bellingham","tag-real-madrid","tag-ucl-round-of-16","tag-uefa","tag-uefa-champions-league","tag-uefa-champions-league-202526"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44511"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44513,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44511\/revisions\/44513"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}