Spanish coach Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City’s upcoming match against Real Madrid offers an “important opportunity” to turn around their difficult season, which has been challenging in terms of results. He set a condition for City to beat Real Madrid and knock them out of the tournament.
City, the English champions for the last four seasons, have faced several disappointing defeats this season (2024-25). In their last Premier League match, they were heavily beaten 5-1 by Arsenal.
The Champions League campaign has not been much better for Manchester City. The team finished 22nd in the league stage standings, making it hard for them to qualify for the knockout round. The draw set them up for a direct clash with Spanish champions Real Madrid.
Guardiola talks about facing Real Madrid
Guardiola spoke about the match ahead in a press conference before the first leg of the knockout round, set for tomorrow, Tuesday. He said, “If we win (against Real Madrid), it will be a huge boost for us for the rest of the season. I know how we want to play, and I know they are looking forward to tomorrow’s match.”
Tomorrow’s game will be at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium, with the return leg taking place at Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu on Wednesday (February 19). When asked about the advantage this gives the Spanish club, Pep Guardiola said, “It’s always better to host the second game in front of your fans, but we didn’t deserve that.”
“When you finish 22nd, you can’t expect any advantage. We haven’t got enough points to be near the top eight. We’ve got what we deserved. However, our team has something special, and we hope to show that tomorrow,” Guardiola added.
Guardiola pointed out that Manchester City has been a strong rival for Real Madrid in recent years and praised the attacking quality of the Spanish club. He said, “They have great attackers. They are top of their league. We need to play well in both games to beat them.”
When asked about Real Madrid’s decision not to attend the 2024 Ballon d’Or ceremony, in protest over Vinicius Junior not winning the award (which went to Manchester City’s Rodri), Pep said, “There are no hard feelings about it. Vinicius had an amazing season too (like Rodri), and he may have deserved the award, just like in the past when (Lionel) Messi and (Cristiano) Ronaldo were competing for it, but that’s in the past now.”
The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach explained that he didn’t have any strong feelings about Real Madrid’s decision not to attend the ceremony, saying, “I was happy for Rodri.”
