Pep Guardiola has shared his very negative view on Manchester City’s chances of beating Real Madrid in their upcoming match. The game will take place on Wednesday at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, as part of the second leg of the Champions League Round of 16 for the 2024-25 season.
This comes after City suffered a tough 3-2 loss at home last week. Real Madrid managed to turn the game around and win, marking their first victory at the Etihad Stadium against Guardiola’s team.
Even though Manchester City recently won 4-0 against Newcastle in the Premier League, Guardiola made it clear that this win does not change how hard the match in Madrid will be.
Pep Guardiola: Our chances against Real Madrid do not exceed 1%
Guardiola, who used to coach Barcelona, told the Catalan newspaper Mundo Deportivo: “We have less than a 1% chance of winning there.”
He added: “Of course, beating Newcastle was good, but it doesn’t give us a big advantage. Everyone knows how tough it is to win at the Bernabeu. If you asked anyone about our chances of going through, they’d probably say it’s less than 1%. Our task will be very hard.”
While Guardiola said his team will fight hard, he also admitted that Manchester City are not at their best this season, making the challenge against Real Madrid even tougher.
He said: “We will give it everything, no doubt about that. But the truth is, our level this season isn’t good enough. We’re far from where we need to be, and our results have been poor. We only played one good game, against Newcastle, but that doesn’t change how difficult it will be against Real Madrid.”
Manchester City vs Real Madrid Champions League match date
The second leg between Manchester City and Real Madrid in the Champions League Round of 16 will take place on Wednesday, 19 February 2025. The match will kick off at 11 pm Mecca time.
