Manchester City face a dire domestic season and hope to salvage their campaign with a Champions League battle against Real Madrid. City struggled in the group stage, escaping an early exit, while their Premier League title hopes are fading after a heavy defeat to Arsenal. Guardiola's side will face a formidable Madrid attack, but welcome key players back from injury.
Manchester City's manager Pep Guardiola and assistant coach Juan Manuel Lillo speak during the English FA Cup fourth round football match with Leyton Orient. — AFP picas a first-time user . Exclusively for Malay Mail readers: Use codeMANCHESTER, Feb 10 — Manchester City need look no further than their perennial Champions League opponents Real Madrid for hope that Europe can still be conquered in the midst of a dire domestic season.
City’s only victories in the competition this season have come against Slovan Bratislava, Sparta Prague and Club Brugge. So used to relentless success during a glittering managerial career, Guardiola has appeared powerless to halt a drastic decline.The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach has repeatedly labelled his side “fragile” and “old”, while he admitted after the signing of Nico Gonzalez on the final day of the transfer window that they have been “weak” in midfield without the injured Rodri for most of the season.
Rodri will miss the tie despite being retained in City’s Champions League squad in the hope he could return from an ACL tear before the end of the season. Real also lost three times in the league phase themselves to Lille, AC Milan and Liverpool to miss out on a top-eight finish that would have secured direct entry to the last 16.In two of the three ties between the sides in the past three years, Madrid began as underdogs, were largely outplayed and yet still progressed at City’s expense.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE REAL MADRID MANCHESTER CITY PEP GUARDIOLA DOMESTIC SEASON
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