Manchester City are looking for a win or draw as they visit the Santiago Bernabeau. Pep Guardiola had his usual pre match presser and had a lot to say.
“First I would say as a club there was a sense of relief,” the boss revealed when discussing last season’s triumph in Istanbul with journalists.
“We made a lot of good things but always in the press conferences it was ‘you arrived seven years ago but you didn’t win the Champions League, you have to win the Champions League otherwise you would not complete [the job]’.
“Always I tried to reject it because this competition is so difficult.
“I would say we are a little bit more than one decade flying in Europe. Before we did not fly in Europe.
“Now we are a club who face this type of competition with the best teams of the world. But it is no more than one decade and a decade is not enough.
“Even now, to compete again, is experience for the future of our club.
“People say ‘once we have won it, it’s done’ No. Absolutely not.
“It’s not like elite clubs like Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Inter Milan, for example, the big, big clubs who for 40, 50, 60, 70 years play in this competition.
“We are, in terms of history, new.
“But we have a sense of ‘okay, we did it’. And of course if we did it once, we can do it again.”
“It is what it is. Also Madrid have [Thibaut] Courtois, [Eder] Militao and [David] Alaba, a long time they have been without players.
“Kyle unfortunately in a friendly game was injured. We would love to have him but what can I say?
“Injuries are part of a long season but unfortunately in a decisive part of the season we have a number of injuries in the same area and we have to find a solution.”
“We have the same managers but we have new players, they have new players.
“We have a little advantage that we play second leg at home where we feel strong and incredibly confident but we have to play 90 minutes here.
“They will press high, so aggressive. They are so dangerous. If you make good progress they will drop.
“Everybody knows, not just Pep, the strength they have on the transitions. They have incredible pace.
“At the same time, you have to try to punish them, hurt them and make them feel we are here to score goals. Real Madrid can control many aspects but we have to impose who we are.”
A great matchup and a proper titan fight.