Before the semi-final first leg at Real Madrid, Manchester City is focusing a lot on the lost duel last year. Coach Guardiola is a thorn in his side. He wants his players to learn.
No sooner had Man City professional Rodrigo said the word “revenge” before the Champions League cracker against Real Madrid than he was called back by his coach Pep Guardiola.
It would be a “huge mistake” to go into the semi-final first leg of the Champions League at Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu with any desire for revenge, Guardiola warned: “We’re not here for revenge.”
But no matter how hard the Spaniard tried to deny the peculiarity of the dramatically lost semifinals in Madrid last year, almost all English reporters asked about it at the press conference on Monday. And at least the Spanish international Rodrigo admitted frankly: “Football gives you a chance for revenge,” said the English champions’ midfielder: “We have the philosophy that you can learn from the past.”
Team gets “new opportunity”
At least on the latter point, Guardiola agreed. From last year’s knockout in extra time you can learn that you need two outstanding games against Real. “Last season wasn’t the end of the world and here we are again,” said the 52-year-old. The team will get “a new opportunity” for the long-awaited Henkel Cup, which the former Bayern coach has so far unsuccessfully been chasing after his two triumphs with FC Barcelona (2009 and 2011).
The fact that Manchester also has to defeat defending champions Real Madrid on the way to the targeted Champions League victory after FC Bayern would only make the triumph sweeter. “To win this competition you have to beat the best. And Real Madrid are the best team in the last seven, eight years,” admitted the former player and coach of Real’s long-time rivals FC Barcelona: “Real Madrid absolutely know in this competition , what to do.”
In addition, the royals go to the German professionals Toni Kroos and Antonio Rüdiger with the tailwind from the national cup victory in the European giant duel. But Manchester is also bursting with self-confidence after ten league wins in a row – this is particularly true of star striker Erling Haaland.
“He has an impressive quality when it comes to scoring goals,” enthused Real coach Carlo Ancelotti, who also didn’t want to make any comparisons to the last semi-final because of the Norwegian: “Last year they had a very dangerous striker in Gabriel Jesus, but he was very different from Haaland Now they’re taking advantage of the long game.”
Source: Stern
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