Sports News: IS A KOMPANY CAN STOP CHRISTIAN RONALDO TO SCORE THE GOAL?,KOMPANY EXPLAIN

Kompany: This is how Man City can end Real Madrid star Ronaldo's Champions League run

The Manchester City captain, like many before him, insists the only way to do it is to defend well as a team, with every single player doing their jobs with total concentration and focus.

One lapse, individually or collectively, and Ronaldo can kill you in the blink of an eye.

City couldn't deal with Ronaldo's nemesis Lionel Messi when losing to Barcelona in the round of 16 in both of the previous two seasons, and they are now bracing themselves for the visit of the man who has proved the scourge of English clubs since he left Old Trafford for Spain.

"How do you deal with him? I don't know," said Kompany. "It is one of those things, you are in a press conference, and if you play against Barcelona or Real Madrid you know you are going to get a question about Ronaldo or Messi.

"And the answer is always going to be the same: if we perform well as a team and you play really well as a team you have a chance of stopping him - and if not he will probably score a goal.

"It's the same answer that any player will give when their team is facing Real Madrid and it is no different from this side."

What Kompany did not need to say is that it is a task easier said than done - especially when you look at the Ronaldo's extraordinary stats.

In eight Champions League games against English clubs since joining Real - two each against Tottenham and Manchester United in knockout rounds and Liverpool and City in group stages - he has scored six goals, including strikes at White Hart Lane, Anfield and Old Trafford. Even in the game at the Etihad when he didn't score, he claimed the assist for Karim Benzema's goal.

And he returns to Manchester tomorrow night looking to extend an unbeaten record of six wins and two draws in those fixtures.

He missed Real's weekend win over Rayo Vallecano but the bad news for City is that he will be fit tomorrow night when he will be looking to equal his own Champions League record of 17 goals in a single season - he has 16 so far on top of the 31 he has in La Liga.

City will have noted that in the quarter-finals Ronaldo single-handedly wiped out Wolfsburg's 2-0 first-leg advantage within 17 minutes of the return at the Bernabeu before going on to complete his hat-trick and secure Real's 27th semi-final appearance in the competition.

No wonder Kompany's team-mate Pablo Zabaleta suggested at the weekend a more rudimentary approach to stopping the Portugal superstar: just kick him!

Of course, if City do manage to keep Ronaldo quiet - by fair means or foul - then there is the problem of Benzema and Gareth Bale. Between the three of them they have scored 88 of Real's 133 goals in all competitions.

Kompany however called on his team-mates to rise to the challenge of City's historic occasion - their first appearance in the semi-finals compared to Real's 27th.

He joined City two weeks before the Abu Dhabi takeover in August 2008 and has been on their often traumatic Euro learning curve from the start.

"I have been through a very long process with this team so to play a semi-final is something really good," he added. "But you want to go to the next stage.

"It is a good plan behind the scenes here. We have always progressed every single year and that is one of the things I am most proud of. Realistically we are not there yet, but we are on our way and everyone at the club is happy to see it is as a process.

"This is a great chance to measure ourselves against a really great club with a lot of tradition and see how far we have got after so many years.

"It is a long hard battle to get to this stage and as much as there is a lot riding on this game, what everyone wishes within the club is that we are able to show how good we are and that we are able to perform to the level we can. And then it will be a fair game."

Kompany will be under scrutiny himself after playing only 90 minutes of competitive action since he suffered his latest calf problem six weeks ago, but he insists he is "100 per cent" fit and ready.

"People mention the 14 injuries to my calf but I talk about the 14 times I have come back and played football like I have never been away," he said.

"It takes a lot of strength of character to do that, every single time to come back and at a level that for various players it's very rare to achieve."

It is the sort of strength of character City will need to overcome Real over two legs.

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