Manchester City know exactly what they must do to beat Real Madrid in the Champions League, Pep Guardiola says.
Following their semi-final matchups in the previous two seasons, City and Real will face off in the round of eight this season following Friday’s draw. Real Madrid emerged triumphant in 2022 after mounting an incredible comeback in injury time during the second leg at the Bernabeu. However, City demonstrated improvement by tying Madrid in the first leg of the previous season and thoroughly dominating their visitors at the Etihad.
Guardiola insists that victory will hold no bearing on this season’s clashes but the form of Jude Bellingham will. The City chief praised the England man for transforming Real into a completely different prospect.
City were keen on bringing Bellingham to the Etihad, although such a move never looked close with the England man destined for Real Madrid when deciding to leave Borussia Dortmund last summer. Nonetheless Guardiola, like any manager in world football, would love to be causing problems with Bellingham in his side rather than trying to find solutions as an opponent.
“The impact has been massive,” said the City chief of Bellingham. “It’s a different team from last season. His influence is obvious, and we have to try to discover what he does to control it.”
Guardiola added: “Facing Real Madrid is always a tough challenge, nobody can deny it. They are an exceptional club, and in this competition can control many things with the experience they have in the past.
“As happened last season there will be moments for them and moments for us. The longer we can keep our moments, we’ll be closer. Hopefully we can arrive in the best moment for the club. I think we’ll be there because the players are incredible. We’ll try to do good performance in Madrid, get a good performance to bring here and then, with our people, do it again.
“For us, it’s a little bit new. For Real Madrid, it’s not special to play the quarter finals of the Champions League. For us, the last years we have been consistent many times and we start to be in this routine to play in the latter stages.
“We are excited before the draw because it’s a privilege. In knockouts, always. It is a special competition. It is not the most difficult because there are a lot of games in the league but this one is special and makes you feel like you go to Europe and play your best football. It’s so nice.”
