Grealish said City this year is a different team and there is a perfect balance
Manchester City striker Jack Grealish said that his team will feel “unstoppable” when it receives Real Madrid in a balanced second leg match in the Champions League semi-finals next Wednesday.
The return match ended at the Bernabeu stadium in the Spanish capital, Madrid, on Tuesday, with a positive draw 1-1, after Vinicius Junior started scoring for the landlords in the 36th minute of the match time, but Kevin De Bruyne equalized the score for City and scored a wonderful goal in the 67th minute. .
City played this match against the Royal Club, which won the championship 14 times, and who took it out of the same round last year with an unexpected surprise.
The first leg of the Champions League semi-finals begins with Real Madrid hosting Manchester City
After City’s victory last year at home 4-3 in the first leg, and its lead in the return match in Madrid with a goal, Real succeeded in seizing a 3-1 victory in the fatal time, with two goals for the Brazilian Rodrigo in stoppage time, then Karim Benzema scored a third goal from a kick. penalty in extra time.
“We’ve learned a lot since last year,” Grealish told BT Sport.
“We have a new team this year, different players. It’s been a year. We now have the perfect balance of experience and world-class youth.”
City advanced against Real last season, but collapsed in a clear way at the end of the second leg, losing the two matches 5-6 in favor of Real.
But this year the return match will be at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, where the team won 14 consecutive matches at home, scoring 49 goals and conceding only seven goals, which makes the odds for Pep Guardiola’s team winning are strong, especially as he seeks to achieve the treble this year.
City striker Grealish added: “At Etihad, we feel unstoppable.”
Regarding the first leg, he said: “We came here to try to win, but scoring a goal in a stadium like this shows our character. In the end, I think it was a fair result. Their chances were available, and ours were less.”
“We are good at winning finals”
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Vinicius Jr. and Kyle Walker had a private battle on the pitch in the first leg at Madrid
In the other camp, Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois said the defending champions could not be left out.
They have already convincingly beaten Liverpool and Chelsea away from home in this season’s competition.
“Next week’s match will be like the final, and we are good at winning finals,” the Belgian goalkeeper said. “I hope we can think of it this way, although playing at City will be difficult for us.”
City’s previous confrontations ended in a 1-1 draw away from home in the first leg, which made it qualify both times for the next round.
As for Real Madrid, it lost only two out of nine matches in the knockout stage in the Champions League, when it failed to win the first leg at home, and both were against Manchester United (1999-2000 and 2012-2013).
“Real Madrid has nothing to lose”
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, former Marseille and England winger Chris Waddle confirmed he was struggling to identify a clear favorite.
“It’s a positive result for Man City. But is it a great result? Will Real Madrid enjoy going to the Etihad and have nothing to lose?” said Waddell.
He explained that Manchester City dominated large parts of this match, adding: “I think they could have been a little more positive in the last third and I think they could have come out with a better result than this.”
He added, “Real Madrid knows how to manage matches, and you have to say that his game was great at times.”
Former Celtic coach Neil Lennon added: “I think Pep Guardiola will be happy with the result and the performance. Everyone expects City to win these matches 2-0 and 3-0, but that is not the reality because they are playing against a big team.”
2023-05-10 02:51:11
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