Manchester (AP) – Pep Guardiola knows what it’s all about. “It’s the semi-finals of the Champions League. I ask our fans: take a train, a bus or a car. We need you,” said the Manchester City coach before the first leg against Real Madrid.
His club is only in the semi-finals for the third time ever – and before the start this Tuesday (9 p.m. / Amazon Prime Video) in their own stadium dreams of winning the first title in the premier class.
Guardiola: “We have to give everything we have”
“It will be a special night for us. We have to enjoy it and give everything we have,” Guardiola demanded. Last year Manchester lost 1-0 to Chelsea in the final, and now the final is set to go back to Paris on May 28th. The royals from Madrid are an extremely unpleasant opponent. Real are a long way off the Spanish league title and can fully concentrate on the Cityzens, who are a point ahead of Liverpool with five games to go in the Premier League.
Guardiola has won the league three times with City since taking office in 2016, but it has been a long time since he last triumphed in the Champions League. He did that in 2009 and 2011 with FC Barcelona. The now 51-year-old then failed at FC Bayern, just as he did with the English. Real already have “a few trophies in the cupboard,” said Guardiola about Real’s 13 trophies only in the premier class. This should also be an attempt to push the role of favorites to coach Carlo Ancelotti’s team. But the balance of power has long since changed.
“The important thing is that City are now on par with a team like Real Madrid,” said Carlos Tevez in an interview on the Manchester club’s website. The ex-pro sees it as a big step forward and can’t see any reason why the English should be afraid of Madrid. City has invested a lot of money in recent years to make it to the top in Europe.
Final duel with Klopps Liverpool possible
The coronation should now take place, in a possible final it is against the winner of the match between Liverpool FC coach Jürgen Klopp and the Bayern conquerors from FC Villarreal. The teams will meet for the first time on Wednesday (9 p.m. / DAZN), and the second leg will be played next week.
Real should currently have respect for striker Gabriel Jesus in particular. The Brazilian prepared himself for the game against Real with four goals in the 5-1 win against relegated Watford FC. “If there’s one person in world football who deserves nights like this, it’s him,” Guardiola said of the 25-year-old.
Madrid also had the dress rehearsal in the 3-1 win against Osasuna in the league, but superstar Karim Benzema missed two penalties. The Frenchman scored the decisive goal in the second leg of the quarter-finals and was instrumental in the elimination of defending champions Chelsea. In the 3-1 win in the first leg, the attacker even scored three times himself in London.