Real Madrid will meet Manchester City in the knockout stages of the Champions League. It means the two are meeting in the knockout stage of the Champions League for a fourth straight season. For City manager Pep Guardiola, the rivalry between the clubs is more of a ‘derby’ now.
Real Madrid will face Manchester City in the knockout rounds of the Champions League. That means the two are facing each other in the knockout stage of the Champions League for the fourth consecutive season. For City manager Pep Guardiola, the rivalry of the clubs is a more of a “derby” at this point.
“It feels like a derby to me. Facing Real for four years in a row Not an easy draw for us, be it Bayern or Madrid, to be fair. Hopefully the first leg here will be good and we can do our best in Madrid in the second leg.”
After a lot of graft, City have reached the knockout stages. So the draw is little for Guardiola to complain about,
“Could we have played better? Yes, of course. Would we have been in the top eight? Yes, we could have! But we didn’t give our best. We are not a team worthy of being in the top eight with only three wins. Real and Bayern are both tough opponents. But we have been through such situations before, hopefully it won’t be too much of a problem.”
The first leg will take place at the Etihad on February 11, with the second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu on the 18th.