Pep Guardiola’s side might be experiencing their worst season in 15 years, but Los Merengues are also looking vulnerable ahead of the play-off tie
For Manchester City, Champions League ties in February usually serve as an appetizers for the heartier main courses to come further down the line. This time last year, Pep Guardiola’s side were preparing to visit Copenhagen for the first leg of a last-16 tie which they would eventually win 6-2 on aggregate. The year before it was RB Leipzig, who they ended up routing 7-0 in the second leg. In February 2022, City travelled to Sporting CP and ran out 5-0 winners in the first leg, allowing Guardiola to field a second string side for the return leg.
But things are a little different this year, as City have to face none other than Real Madrid after only just sneaking into the play-offs of the rebooted competition following a dreadful League Phase campaign in which they won just three out of eight matches to finish 22nd out of 36 teams.
It is the fourth season in a row in which City will have met Madrid in the knockout stages, and the fifth time in six seasons. City knocked Madrid out in 2019-20 and 2022-23, but succumbed to Los Blancos in last season’s quarter-finals following a penalty shootout having also lost in the dramatic semi-final tie in 2021-22. The year before Guardiola took charge of City, with Manuel Pellegrini in the dugout, they were beaten in the semi-finals.
City fans must be sick of the sight of Madrid, and they were probably the last team they wanted to face at this stage, especially given Guardiola’s side are still muddling their way through a harrowing campaign. They were thrashed 5-1 by Arsenal less than two weeks ago, and on Saturday survived an almighty scare in the FA Cup against third-tier Leyton Orient.
But Madrid have problems of their own, and City’s recent history offers many reasons for those of a blue persuasion to be quietly optimistic of knocking out the 15-times winners. That was certainly how Ruben Dias saw it when told the pre-match press conference: “Since I’ve been here, this has been the most difficult season so far. But I’m a firm believer that even in the most difficult scenario, most difficult beginning, you can still do something and achieve something beautiful in the end.”
GOAL outlines six reasons why City should have no fear at all of facing Madrid…