Manchester City welcome Real Madrid to the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night and Pep Guardiola conceded he is unsure how his team will handle facing the 15-time European champions
Pep Guardiola might be certain he won’t get the sack as Manchester City boss.
But what Guardiola admits he doesn’t have a clue about, is which City team will turn up when Real Madrid come to town on Tuesday. City have found themselves on a rollercoaster ride of good, bad and downright ugly this season.
One which saw them open the campaign with 14 games unbeaten, then win one in 12, get hammered at both Arsenal and Paris Saint Germain, and scrape into the Champions League play-offs in 22nd place in the table. And waiting for them are the 15-time champions and current holders.
Few give City a realistic chance of getting through over two legs. And Guardiola himself admits he has no idea what to expect from his English champions. He said: “We’ve not done quite well enough (in the group stage) and we deserve to be here.
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“The draw is the draw – and we accept the challenge. Both teams had problems with injuries through the season. But Madrid handled it much better than us, because they’re top of the league (La Liga).
“They’ve shown the consistency. They are a huge competitor. In the tough moments they bring their best. We have to make two big games to go through. We’ve not been consistent. What’s defined the team over the last decade has been doing it every few days.
“We can lose because the opponents are good, but we’ve not been consistent. We can perform well, but I don’t know what will happen. I don’t know how we’ll react.” Win, lose or draw, Guardiola insists he still has too much credit in the bank to be sacked for overseeing poor results.
He said: “No. I don’t know if a doctor will be asked about his position like this. I am here because of what I have won in previous seasons. I don’t think I am going to be thrown out onto the street.”
Guardiola, however, does admit Real’s attacking superstars are ‘impossible’ to stop. Real boast one of the most dangerous forward lines on the planet, which includes Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo, Jude Bellingham and Brazilian sensation Endrick.
And Guardiola said: “It’s impossible in 90/120/200 minutes to control these players. They are exceptional – how they combine, the runners, the ability one against one, how they keep the ball, all four are exceptional.
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“Everybody knows it, so you have to reduce that involvement as much as possible, knowing that it’s going to happen, accept it.” Guardiola knows getting past Real to reach the knockout stages would give his players a huge boost for the remainder of the season – and has urged them to embrace the challenge.
The Spaniard added: “Of course it would be important to play in the next round. It would be a good boost, if everyone is back and we’re fit. This season we struggled a lot, but I like to feel, week by week, that we are there.
“I’m so optimistic and calm. The players are looking forward to it. Real, with their history, it’s always a pleasure. We can’t forget that a decade ago we were not here often. We’ve lways been there now. For us it’s an honour, and hopefully our people can support us.”