Pep Guardiola has admitted that Manchester City require a “perfect game” to overturn Real Madrid’s 3-0 lead in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Tuesday.
Álvaro Arbeloa’s team is the firm favourite to progress to the quarter-finals after their victory at the Bernabéu last week when Madrid’s captain, Federico Valverde, scored a first-half hat-trick.
Guardiola understands the challenge confronting his team. “It has to be a perfect game in many senses, and so we try and try,” he said. “It’s about the players, getting into perfect positions. We played with four or five strikers in the first leg and didn’t score a goal.
“Sometimes you play with two false 9s and score five goals. The idea is there – we have to try it. Not too many different things are needed. We can create many chances in minutes.”
Guardiola referenced the 3-2 win against Aston Villa on the final day of the 2022-23 season that clinched the Premier League title. City were 2‑0 down until the 76th minute when Ilkay Gündoğan ignited a thrilling comeback. “We made three goals in 14 minutes,” Guardiola said.
“In other comebacks we did incredible things, but we conceded or goal difference [was decisive], or we were out for decisions from referees. It has to be a perfect game in many departments to make these kinds of things.”
Only three teams have overturned a three-goal deficit in the knockout rounds of the Champions League: Deportivo La Coruña, when they defeated Milan 4-0 in the 2003-04 quarter‑finals to win 5-4 on aggregate; Roma, when beating Barcelona 3-0 in the 2017-18 quarter-finals to draw 4-4 on aggregate and progress on away goals; and Liverpool, when beating Barcelona 4–0 in the 2018-19 semi-finals to win 4-3 on aggregate.
“The task is massive,” Guardiola said. “To score more than three goals against Madrid is not easy, but we are here, it is a football game, everything can happen, and we have to create as much momentum as possible with our people and play a good game and defend well. If we can be clinical and defend well, we will always be in the game.”
City may face a UEFA sanction after Guardiola decided not to train the squad on Monday, preferring to do so instead on Tuesday afternoon in order to give his players an extended rest following the 1-1 draw with West Ham on Saturday night. Uefa rules state: “If a club does not hold a full training session on the day before the match, alternative arrangements must be made in agreement with Uefa to provide the media with access to a minimum of 15 minutes of the team’s preparation.”
“I prefer them to be at home,” Guardiola said in response. “We will arrive at 2 [pm on Tuesday], move a little on the legs, and go. I did it two or three times this season.”
Real’s Antonio Rüdiger reminded Erling Haaland that he was one of the first defenders to shackle the City striker after joining the Spanish club in the summer of 2022. The 33-year-old referred to the Champions League semi-final between the teams in May 2023. While City won 5-1 on aggregate, Haaland did not score.
“In my first season, they said no centre-back could beat him, and I was one of them to keep up with him,” the 33-year-old said. “I find it fantastic to play against him. Seems like a good guy and a better footballer. I faced him many times; he’s a world-class striker, but a young man, very strong. I like this kind of duel.”
Rüdiger’s uncompromising play was shown in Real’s 1-0 defeat by Getafe on 2 March. The German’s challenge on Diego Rico featured him kneeing Getafe’s left-back in the face. Afterwards, Rico said: “It was an assault – you can see he was going to hit me on purpose. The ball came to me, and you can see him even push his teammate aside to smash my face in. If he’d caught me in a bad position, he could have left me lying on the grass.”
Rüdiger was asked about this. “You see the images, in slow motion, it looks terrible – in the action itself, and also what the player said, it was like I killed him. If I’d had the intention to do that, he wouldn’t have stood up,” he said. “It was never my intention to do it on purpose. I like to be tough on the pitch, but I have boundaries – the boy exaggerated a bit. Maybe he needs to be the star at something. We see what happens in the world, and you have to keep what you say low.”
Kylian Mbappé is available after a knee injury, but Jude Bellingham, who has travelled with Álvaro Arbeloa’s squad, is still recovering from a hamstring problem. “He wanted to come with his teammates; he will continue in the training but won’t be on the side,” said Real’s head coach.
