Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola is not in Madrid on Tuesday for revenge, but to take a first step towards the Champions League final. The Spaniard claims this the day before the duel with Real Madrid, which was still too strong for City in the ball of millions last season.
“This is just another chance. What happened then is in the past,” Guardiola said in the run-up to the squatter. Last season, City in Madrid was on course for a final place for a long time, but Real managed to get out of extra time due to two goals from Rodrygo. Karim Benzema scored the winning goal.
“Last season we did more than anything to get to the final, but it wasn’t enough. We played exceptionally well. Of course they are the same managers and a lot of the same players, but they are completely different games.”
Rodri, who sat next to Guardiola at the press conference, spoke about revenge, unlike his coach. “Football gives you the opportunity to take revenge,” said the Spaniard. “Then we lost the game in five minutes. We have to learn from that.”
Winning the Champions League is the long-cherished dream of the wealthy Premier League club owned by the wealthy Abu Dhabi sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The club has been in the final battle once before: in 2021, Chelsea lost 0-1.
“There will come a time when we reach the final and win, but to win you have to beat the best teams and Madrid are the best team in the last decade,” said Guardiola, who won the “big-eared cup” as coach of FC Barcelona has already won twice.
“We don’t just want to stop Haaland, but a whole team”
Real coach Carlo Ancelotti also looked ahead with City the day before the squatter. “We have to be at our best. It will be a duel that demands a lot from everyone, but you can also expect that from a semi-final in this competition.”
Real also meets goal machine Erling Haaland at City. “He is very dangerous, but we are not just talking about Haaland,” Ancelotti stressed. “We don’t just want to stop Haaland. We want to stop a team that seems unstoppable.”
“Still, I think we can win. Tomorrow we want to show the best of ourselves. We want to enforce a small advantage, bearing in mind that the decision will fall in the second leg,” the Italian concluded.
The first match of the diptych in the semi-finals of the Champions League is scheduled for Tuesday at 9 p.m. City plays in Bernabéu without Nathan Aké. The Orange international was injured on Saturday and was not on the plane to Madrid.
2023-05-08 20:53:12
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