Pep Guardiola ratws City’s chances of beating Real Madrid

Before Wednesday night’s second leg of their play-off match against Real Madrid, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola stated that his team had a “1%” chance of making it to the Champions League round of 16. Everything might have turned out very differently.

With less than ten minutes of the first leg left at the Etihad Stadium last Tuesday, the defending Premier League winners led 2-1 over Madrid before two late goals drastically changed the outcome of the match.

Ahead of this week’s pivotal game in the Spanish capital, City is behind 3-2 overall. They must either defeat Madrid by two goals in normal time or win by one goal and win the next penalty shootout. Guardiola wasn’t really hopeful.

“The margin to win in [the] Bernabeu in that position, everybody knows that if you ask before the game, the percentage to go through, I don’t know, we arrive at 1%, it will be minimal,” the City boss sighed before adding: “But as [long] as you have a chance, we will try, that’s for sure.”

Although City’s 4-0 victory over Newcastle United on Saturday suggested a late comeback to form, Guardiola was careful to emphasize how subpar his team has been in comparison to their high expectations. According to the Catalan coach, “this season, the reality, we have been miles, miles away,”

“We have been really, really poor in performance [and] in the results this season, and just for one game, that today, played really good, and it’s not going to change the opinion, the reality, the team, it is right now, and we are still not good in terms of day by day.”

Even Madrid hasn’t been totally outstanding. The Spanish powerhouses have lost seven games this season in all competitions, more than double their total defeats from the 2023–24 season. They were held to a 1–1 tie by Osasuna over the weekend.

Erling Haaland, who scored twice for the English champions in their loss to Madrid last week, will be crucial to City’s prospects of winning in Spain. Guardiola quickly allayed worries about a protracted absence after the talismanic attacker hobbled off against Newcastle due to a concerning knee problem.