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Pep Guardiola Carlo Ancelotti Reaction to Manchester City vs Real Madrid Clash in Champions League Quarterfinal
For the 3rd season running, Manchester City will face Real Madrid in the Champions League knock-out stage on Friday. This time, the reigning champions, City, will lock horns with the tournament's record 14-time winners Real Madrid in a now hugely anticipated quarter-final tie on 9th and 17th April.
In their meeting in the semi-final in 2022, despite of the Cityzen's being the favorites and winning the tie in 90 minutes, Real Madrid came out on top with a 6-5 aggregate victory, thanks to Rodrygo and Karim Benzema's stoppage time heroics in the second leg in Madrid.
But last season, the tables turned and Manchester City finally lived up to their top-dog status in the last 4 showdown, drawing 1-1 in the first leg in Spain before thrashing Carlo Ancelotti's men 4-0 in the return leg at the Etihad Stadium to advance to the final, in which they beat Inter Milan 1-0 to win it for the first time in Istanbul.
Just as Los Blancos have been the underdogs in their last 2 seasons, they unarguably remain the same this year. Even though they have a 10-point gap at the top of LaLiga, judging from how they struggled to beat RB Leipzig in the round of 16 eventually winning it 2-1 on aggregate, Real Madrid were unconvincing even though their manager thinks otherwise.
"We are hungry. We're in top conditions, better than ever. I think Courtois and Militao will be part of the squad against City," said Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti after the draw. On the other hand, his Manchester City counterpart Pep Guardiola was also optimistic. Speaking after the draw on Friday, Guardiola said, "It looks like a little bit of a tradition, 3 years in a row playing the kings of the competition. Hopefully we arrive in a good moment. 2nd leg at home, it is what it is."
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