Real Madrid and Manchester City must be sick of the sight of each other. The pair, drawn together in the quarter-final of this season’s Champions League, have also met in each of the last two seasons.
While the Spanish side were able to mount a ridiculous stoppage-time comeback against City in 2022, the English side humbled Madrid last year, winning 5-1 on aggregate to get to the final.
Real Madrid clearly want revenge, and they are going to extraordinary lengths to create the perfect conditions for victory.
Why do Real Madrid want to close the Bernabeu’s roof for the Manchester City game?
The 14-time European Cup/Champions League winners have put in a formal request to UEFA to close the roof at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday night, in an effort to make the atmosphere as cacophonous as possible.
UEFA, along with match referee Francois Letexier, will decide whether or not to allow the move during a routine pre-match meeting which will take place on Tuesday afternoon before the game. The rules stipulate that whatever decision they take, the game must end under the same conditions that it started under, unless severe whether means the roof must be closed or opened.
The roof was closed for Real’s round of 16 clash against RB Leipzig, which they drew 1-1 to go through with a 2-1 aggregate win.
Real Madrid players, including Vinicius Jr. have also taken to social media to ask fans to arrive wearing the club’s home kit, in order to create a wall of white to intimidate Pep Guardiola’s side.
The Estadio Santiago Bernabeu’s retractable roof
The stadium’s retractable roof was added as part of a €1 billion renovation to the Bernabeu which was completed last year.
The Bernabeu joined the likes of the Johan Cruyff Arena and the Veltins Arena as football stadiums which have a fully retractable roof.