Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola confirmed that his team is ready to face Real Madrid in the Champions League, a match he considered a “derby”, indicating that it will be repeated.
This is the fourth year in a row that City have faced the royal club in the knockout stages of the Champions League, noting that the Merengue have won twice compared to the English club once.
Guardiola: Real Madrid match is very difficult
After the draw for the round of 16 play-offs on Friday, Pep Guardiola spoke ahead of the Arsenal match scheduled for Saturday, saying about the draw: “It seems that the Real Madrid match has already become a derby.”
He added: “It is the fourth time in a row that we have faced Real Madrid, but we know that we have a difficult road ahead of us.”
He continued: “We had to face Bayern Munich or Real Madrid, both are very difficult, now we hope to achieve the best possible result in the first leg here and then in Madrid.”
Guardiola complains about Premier League fixtures
Guardiola took the opportunity to complain about City’s fixture schedule in February, saying: “We have a lot of difficult games, in the Premier League they usually give difficult schedules to teams in Europe.”
He continued: “I don’t complain much about this schedule because we have achieved incredible success despite its difficulty, the problem is always the game in the middle between the two difficult Champions League games, like the Newcastle game.”
He concluded: “Since I was in Barcelona and I followed the Premier League, Sir Alex Ferguson, Mourinho and Arsene Wenger complained about the same thing, do you think they will change it? The channels decide, but the officials are not interested in what is best for the teams.”
Manchester City’s upcoming matches
City face Arsenal in London on Sunday, then face Leyton Orient in the FA Cup next Saturday.
In a few days, they will have a date with Real Madrid at the Etihad Stadium, then they will meet Newcastle and then travel to the Spanish capital.
After that, he will face three consecutive summits, the first against Liverpool, the second against Tottenham, and the last against the dark horse of this season, Nottingham City. The conclusion before the international break will be a difficult match against Brighton.
