Guardiola Plays Mind Games Ahead of Champions League Clash with Real Madrid

There is currently tension at Real Madrid, and Pep Guardiola, the head coach of Manchester City, is playing mind games ahead of their upcoming Champions League round-of-16 second leg against the Spanish club.

Guardiola is attempting to shift the favorite tag onto Real Madrid, despite City’s strong 4-0 victory over Newcastle United in the Premier League on Saturday.Manchester City heads into the crucial European tie after a solid domestic win, but Guardiola’s remarks are aimed at unsettling the Real Madrid squad. “Los Blancos” return to Madrid with a 3-2 advantage after last week’s first leg in Manchester, having been down 2-1 until just four minutes before the final whistle.

Guardiola commented, “In this position, everyone knows our chance of winning at the Bernabéu is 1%. Or something like that. Anyway, the chance is minimal. But we will try for qualification, that’s for sure.”

The Spanish coach also criticized his team’s recent performances, stating that Manchester City has not been delivering great results this season.

“We played really well against Newcastle on Saturday, but that doesn’t change the reality,” Guardiola said. “Of course, it’s better to go to Madrid after such a result,” he added, referencing his past managerial stints at Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

At Real Madrid, the atmosphere is far from ideal. Under coach Carlo Ancelotti, the team has failed to win three consecutive La Liga matches. Following complaints about refereeing, with club president Florentino Pérez suggesting that he would prefer English officials in Spain, there has been a noticeable focus on what some perceive as “anti-Real Madrid” decisions from referees.

Ancelotti also commented on the recent controversial decisions, saying, “A lot has happened in the last three matches, and everyone has seen it. VAR checks situations in our penalty area, but not in the opponent’s. It seems to be switched off there… All we can do is fight and play. Hopefully, everything will go well in the next match.”