Pep Guardiola admitted with fright that he had “lied” about Manchester City having 1% chance of overthrowing their champions league game in the Champions League with Real Madrid, but is aware that his team must be “almost perfect” to pass through.
The title champions of the Premier League, which won the Champions League in 2023, thanks to the winning goal of Rodri against Inter, go to the Santiago Bernabeu which drags 3-2 after a late dramatic collapse at the Etihad stadium.
Erling Haaland’s accession had put City in a strong position against the 15 winners, but the goals of Brahim Diaz and Jude Bellingham turned the trend in favor of Madrid.
Guardiola previously assessed City’s chances of progressing as “minimal” and “1%”, but Spanish adopted a different tone when it was addressed to the media on Tuesday.
“We have to make it almost the perfect game,” he said. “We have to attack. We have to score goals. This is the idea.
“We must play with courage. We must be ourselves. We will need incredible courage and we have to play to win. We could always lose, but we must show this courage and be ourselves. We must play so well, especially After the result we withdrew in the first leg.
“We have to change a lot. I lied to you, and you didn’t believe me. I said because we had come out and no one would have bet on us. But over the days, enthusiasm returns. We will try to pass.
Seeing Real Madrid, both in Bernabeu and in European competition, is not something foreign to Guardiola. City won his two-legged semi-final in 2023 by a global score of 5-1, when he appreciated large victories in the Spanish capital during his stay in Barcelona.
“I have incredible memories here-sometimes good, sometimes not so good,” he added.
“We know at this stage, and in this stage, the pressure is there – but you get this in Milan, Barcelona, Anfield. You should suffer in these places, but you have to reduce these moments.”
