MADRID — Coach Carlo Ancelotti is skeptical of Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola’s claim that his team has only a 1% chance of overcoming Real Madrid in the Champions League playoffs taking place on Wednesday.
Madrid managed a thrilling late comeback to secure a 3-2 victory in the first leg held in England last week, placing them in a favorable position ahead of their return match at the iconic Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
Following City’s commanding 4-0 victory over Newcastle in the Premier League on Saturday, Guardiola commented that his side would enter the match in Spain with merely a “1%” prospect of advancing to the next round.
Ancelotti, however, dismissed this assertion during a pre-game press briefing, suggesting that Guardiola does not genuinely believe the low odds he expressed. “Tomorrow I’ll ask him if he really thinks they only have a 1% chance,” he stated. “He knows his chances are greater, just as we don’t merely view our likelihood as 99%. We realize we hold an advantage and will seek to capitalize on it.”
Guardiola later admitted he might have exaggerated with his initial claim, clarifying that he understands City’s odds of reversing the first-leg loss are better than he suggested. “To succeed, we need to deliver near-perfect performance,” he remarked. “The initial result was not ideal; typically, we would hope to enter a second leg with a more favorable score. Thus, we must find ways to attack and finish our chances. Our goal is to win, and we’ll see if we can rectify what went wrong last week.”
Ancelotti expressed that he doesn’t subscribe to the idea of underestimating their situational advantage. “It would be naive to say we’ll prepare as if the score were 0-0,” he noted. “It is factual that we scored three goals while City scored two, and that cannot be ignored. We’ll aim to play as we did last week while keeping in mind the advantage we have.”
Guardiola, who has never failed to lead his team to the knockout stage in his coaching career spanning 16 seasons across Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and Manchester City, reflected on the current difficulties his side is facing this season. He commented, “This season the reality is that we have been significantly off our usual standards. The results have not been good.”
Historically, Madrid has excelled against City, defeating them in last year’s quarterfinals and securing a 3-1 extra-time win in the semifinals in 2022, with Ancelotti’s squad eventually claiming the title and extending its remarkable tally of Champions League trophies to 15.
In terms of player availability, Ancelotti can rely on central defender Antonio Rüdiger, who is back after a recent muscle injury that sidelined him. In the earlier match against City, Ancelotti was compelled to play an unconventional defensive lineup, with the players having united for the first time on the field.
During that match, defenders Ferland Mendy, the young Raúl Asencio, and midfielders Aurélien Tchouaméni and Federico Valverde formed the back line. Ancelotti confirmed that Rüdiger could start in the upcoming match, yet he did not disclose whether the central defender would take the place of Tchouaméni or the 22-year-old Asencio.
It is notable that this match marks the fourth consecutive season the two teams have met in the Champions League, with City previously emerging victorious in the semifinals two years ago en route to securing their first European title.
