Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola, said, his side “are not a solid team”, however, “we want to win” when they play against Real Madrid on Wednesday night.
In the first leg of their UCL knockout play-off, the Cityzens lost 2-3 to Carlo Ancelotti’s Los Blancos right inside Etihad Stadium, Manchester, England.
Spanish Kings, Real Madrid , will lock horns with Manchester City in the second leg of the Uefa Champions League 2024/25 Knockout Play-off at Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid on Wednesday 19 February, 2025 at 21:00 (WAT).
At his press conference ahead of the match, Guardiola said:
On Haaland, Ake, Grealish and Dias:
“Yes they have travelled, we will see tomorrow but it’s good they are here.”
On Jack Grealish:
“He was able to play a really good game in the FA Cup but he doesn’t have the consistency to play three games a week, he was not able to do it. Hopefully, now, he is able to for the last few months of the season he can get it.”
On playing with courage:
“[You have to] play with courage. Be yourself. I learnt that as a young player when we didn’t get results. Play with incredible courage and play to win the game, otherwise, you can lose but you must be yourself. When we did well here it was because we played to win the game. We have no alternative because of the result in the first leg.”
On the match against Real Madrid:
“We can be beaten in the 94th minute but we have always been a machine, every three days, no one has done what we have done in England… Maybe we are not a solid team, maybe we miss Rodri, of course, he is the best player in the world… I have been a coach 13/14 years and I have always found a way to make things work. Let’s see if we can recover this tomorrow and maybe we can turn things around. We want to win. We lost the first game and we have 90 minutes so let’s see if we can adjust some things that didn’t work in the first leg.”
