Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola proclaimed “I don’t fear” Real Madrid ahead of the two team’s crunch Champions League quarter-final this evening.
The two former winners clash tonight at the Etihad with their aggregate tie poised at 3-3 after a wild first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu.
“No, I don’t fear them,” said City boss Guardiola. “I respect them a lot and I’ve faced them many times.
“If I say I’m scared of them, I would be false. You can believe what you want when I say that. But I have to have respect for them.
“There’s the rivalry – you want to beat them and do well [in the Champions League]. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. I want to do as well as we can and be ourselves, but I’m not scared of them.
“You’re facing Real Madrid, they want to attack you and create chances. They’re very dangerous – they’ve always been the team to cause us problems and we’re going to have to give everything to win the game.”
The winner of the last eight tie between Madrid and City will face either Arsenal or Bayern Munich, who play tonight.
Arsenal came from 2-1 down to draw their first leg level at 2-2 with Harry Kane’s Bundesliga side with the duo meeting at the Allianz Arena Munich.
The final will be held at Wembley on 1 June in the first Champions League final at the iconic ground since 2013, when Bayern Munich beat Borussia Dortmund.
Manchester City in Champions League this season
Nine Champions League matches, eight wins, one draw
27 goals at an average of three per match
Just 12 goals conceded at an average of 1.34 per match
Just one clean sheet
Seven yellow cards and zero red cards
Passing accuracy of 93.47 per cent
Only 13 saves made at less than 1.5 per match
Over 1,000km covered on the pitch