Ashley Westwood makes bold prediction for UEFA Champions League semi finals

Former Sheffield Wednesday star Ashley Westwood made a bold prediction for the semi-finals of the ongoing UEFA Champions League. The 46-year-old, who watched the second-leg encounter between Manchester City and Real Madrid at the Bernabeu last year was convinced that the Man City will book their tickets to the final with a 1-0 win over Los Blancos.

Real Madrid will be appearing in their 10th semi-final in the league in the last 12 seasons. The La Liga giants will also be looking to clinch their sixth title since the 2014 edition of the Champions League. Madrid will take on Man City for the first leg of the semi-finals on Wednesday after thrashing Chelsea by 4-0 in the quarter-finals.

However, Westwood believes that Manchester City will record a famous victory against Real Madrid in the semi-finals. He said that Man City are playing with the ‘best style’ of football throughout the tournament.

Guardiola coming up with another tactical switch: Ashley Westwood

“Manchester City arguably are playing the best style of football throughout the Champions League. The win against Bayern Munich certainly in the 1st leg was very expensive. Guardiola coming up with another tactical switch, playing John Stones in the midfield. Going 3 at the back was very clever, kind of played three at the back, two holding central midfielders with Rodri and Stones. And it was more or like four really across the middle. And Haaland at the front with kind of on his own was really attacking and giving them stability. Withholding midfielders the counterattack Bayern were looking for and yeah it sounds like a very clever move from Guardiola,” Westwood told Hindustan Times.

“So, yeah they look strong! Only Real Madrid can stop them. I went to the semi-final in Madrid last year. When I thought Man City were gonna go through but for some reason, Real Madrid just knew how to play in the big game and they found something different, and they beat Man City. So it’s gonna be a good match. But I expect Man City to win,” he further added.