Manchester City vs Real Madrid prediction 01.10.2026 | Champions League Women

For too long, Manchester City has been in Chelsea's shadow in English women's football. Last season, they finally finished at the top of the domestic league and won the club's second title. However, Manchester City are still waiting for a continental trophy, as two semifinals in almost a decade remain their best result. Last season, Andre Jeglertz's team lost in the Champions League quarterfinal 3-2 on aggregate to Chelsea. Manchester City are off to a strong start, with four wins and one draw in all competitions. In the most recent outing, they won 1-0 on the road against Charlton.

Manchester City's head coach, Andre Jeglertz, made some changes for the weekend to rest main players for the game against Real Madrid. After the game, he commented, "The most important thing coming here today was to win the game. Just seeing the players who started, those coming in, but also being able to rest others, we have a great team with lots of different qualities."

Manchester City have serious problems with missing players ahead of Thursday's game. They will be without injured Vivianne Miedema, Rebecca Knaak, Risa Shimizu, and Sydney Lohmann, while Iman Beney is questionable.

Real Madrid are still without a major trophy. At the national level, Barcelona are too good, while in the Champions League, the team from the Spanish capital never progressed beyond the quarterfinals. Last season, Real Madrid lost in the same phase of the continental competition, 12-2 on aggregate, to Barcelona. However, the first few weeks of the 2026/27 campaign are encouraging, as Pau Quesada's team won six of eight matches. In the previous game, they won 5-3 on the road against Real Sociedad. 

Real Madrid's Janou Levels suffered an injury last weekend, and it is still unknown whether she will travel to Manchester. If the left-back is out, she will join already unavailable Sandie Toletti, Filippa Angeldahl, and Sara Holmaard.