Guardiola: The history of Real Madrid speaks for itself. We know how good they are in the Champions League, adds Sterling

On Tuesday we have a super clash in the Champions League semi-final between Manchester City and Real Madrid. At a press conference, Citizens officials expressed great respect for the Spanish club.

Real Madrid is historically the most successful team in the Champions League. It has won the trophy thirteen times and is the only team in history to defend the Champions League, twice in a row. It is extremely strong in turning games around, as it demonstrated with PSG or Chelsea.

And this is well noticed by Manchester City, who will be the third in a row to try to stop the White Ballet. So at the press conference, only words of respect flew.

“We know how good they are in this competition, not only this season, but also in the previous ones. We have to prepare for it properly, be mentally ready for this challenge. It’s a special competition, every young player wants to be here,” Raheem Sterling said at the press conference.

“Their history speaks for itself, but we are eager to face them. It’s 11-on-11 and one running ball. It’s about the players, how they make decisions. You can make any plan you want, but their quality and how strong they are makes all the difference in the end. This game is the players’ game, I can’t win it with assistants,” Manchester coach Pep Guardiola acknowledged the strength of the opposition.

The Citizens reached the Champions League final for the first time in their history last year, but fell short to Chelsea. In the current edition, the English champion has taken on Sporting Lisbon and Atlético Madrid, but now comes the toughest test. How will Guardiola’s charges cope?

Source: UEFA