Barcelona great Rivaldo tips Real Madrid to beat Man City in Champions League prediction

Barcelona legend Rivaldo has tipped Real Madrid to beat Manchester City and reach the Champions League final after an 'epic' first-leg encounter.

After an end-to-end 4-3 win for City in Manchester, it's Pep Guardiola's side who take a slight advantage to the Santiago Bernabeu in the Champions League semi-final second-leg. City held a two-goal advantage on three occasions across the 90 minutes, but the 13-time winners of the competition used all their experience and quality to keep a grip on the tie and set up a mouth-watering meeting in the Spanish capital.

Speaking exclusively to Betfair, former Ballon d'Or winner Rivaldo has been reflecting on the enthralling encounter at the Etihad Stadium and has selected some individuals for particular praise.

READ MORE: Man City player ratings vs Leeds

He began: "We had the pleasure of watching an epic match on Tuesday with Man City beating Real Madrid 4-3 with many players proving why they are some of the best in the world like De Bruyne, Gabriel Jesus, Vini Jr, Benzema and Bernardo Silva.

"And if this is just a sample for the 2022 World Cup, then we are about to have a great competition later in the year with many national teams putting on some shows thanks to the high quality of their players.

"But this UCL match was truly entertaining and the most interesting aspect is that both teams are still well placed to qualify to the final, so we can expect another thriller next week.

"It will be the second leg of a clash between Madrid's experience and knowledge at this stage of the competition and Man City's game quality and attacking football under Pep Guardiola. For that reason, I'm expecting another great match next Tuesday and I can't wait to watch it!"

Rivaldo believes that,