The clash between Real Madrid and Manchester City in the second leg of the Champions League play-offs, tonight at the Santiago Bernabeu at 21pm, has already been marked by a statement from the English team's coach. Pep Guardiola, who gave his team a one percent chance of advancing.
City lost the first match at home 3:2, but as the away goals rule is long gone in UEFA competitions, any win by a single goal brings City extra time, and of course a chance to advance to the round of XNUMX.
Guardiola, however, doesn't care, according to him, Real's chances are 99 percent.
Clearly, the Madrid coach "reacted", Carlo Angelotti.
"Honestly, even Guardiola doesn't believe what he said," the Italian said.
- I'll definitely ask him about it before the game starts - he joked.
The clashes between City and Real Madrid have become traditional in the knockout stages of the elite European competition. They have never happened so early, although in the previous system there were no two-legged round of 16 ties.
Most of the previous matches were full of drama, with Real winning last year's quarter-final second leg on penalties, two seasons earlier with two goals in stoppage time, winning extra time and later advancing to the final.
The only dramatic match was the 2023 semi-final, which City won 5-1 on aggregate.
The "citizens" are far from their form at the time, when they won the only European champion title in history, but they are also far from having a "one percent chance", even though they start the second leg with a goal deficit.
Ancelotti knows this too, and is experienced enough not to fall for Guardiola's trick.
- He doesn't think they have a one percent chance of progressing, just like we don't think we're 99 percent favourites. We have a slight advantage because of what we did in Manchester and that's it. We want to use that and progress - the Real Madrid coach stressed.
As strange as it may sound, Real Madrid have not fared well in the past when they had the advantage before the second leg, they have been much better when they have been playing "from a deficit".
- It's a little psychological problem, because you have to learn to play when you have an advantage. It's not the easiest thing to deal with. I can say now that we will act as if it's 0-0, as if the game is just starting, I can tell my players that too - and I will tell them, but it's not that simple - said Ancelotti.
Real Madrid and Manchester City have met 9 times in the Champions League in the last five years, tonight is the 10th clash. Not counting penalties or extra time, the balance is - two wins for Real, three draws and four triumphs for City.
Real Madrid lost first place in Spain over the weekend, which was taken over by Barcelona, while City announced better days and a way out of a major crisis with a victory over Newcastle (3:0).
- What you can control to some extent is the attitude of the team - we will try to play the same game as seven days ago, when we won, but you also cannot forget that you are ahead - said Ancelotti.
hat-trick Omer Marmuš (first goals in a City shirt - and immediately a hat-trick) gave Guardiola more trump cards ahead of tonight's duel. Equal confidence ahead of tonight's clash was instilled by the defense, which kept a clean sheet after a long time. Can this help Guardiola's team pull off a feat and save the season, we'll see when the game starts...
- Of course this victory over Newcastle helps us, but I don't think we have more than a one percent chance. However, we will try to grab that one percent - said Guardiola, whose team is fourth in the Premier League table, 16 points behind leaders Liverpool.
Tonight, he can also say goodbye to the Champions League.
Paris Saint-Germain are huge favorites against Brest after a 3-0 away win in the first leg, which is probably the kind of game where one team has a 99 percent chance of progressing and the other a XNUMX percent chance.
Juventus are also facing a big test, traveling to Eindhoven and defending a 2-1 advantage from the first leg. Finally, Borussia Dortmund also has one foot in the round of 3, having defeated Sporting Lisbon 0-XNUMX in the first leg, but they need to confirm all that in “Westfalen”.
Couples
REAL M. - MANCHESTER S. (first leg 3:2)
DORTMUND - SPORTING (3:0)
PSV - JUVENTUS (1:2)
PSG - BREST (3:0)
Bonus video:
