Pep key to overcoming Real Madrid according to Bernardo
Bildbyran
Pep Guardiola’s supreme knowledge of Spanish football will be key to combat the threat of Real Madrid.
Guardiola coached Barcelona between 2018-2012 and Silva is optimistic that the Spanish coach’s experience will help City get past in their last-16 clash against La Liga champions Real Madrid.
“There’s nobody like him to help us against a Spanish team, especially one he knows so well,” he told Marca. “Having him as our coach and playing against Real Madrid is a good thing. He has always been a coach who knows how to play against Real Madrid the best.”
“Since the restart Real Madrid have won almost all their games and, as a result, are the LaLiga champions,” he added. “This will only spur them on and they will be fully prepared for this game.
“We have to be in very good shape ourselves and play really well because, if not, we won’t go through. We know that we’re coming up against a big team and we need to show all our qualities in order beat them.”
“We know that we are playing against a massive club, one of the best in the world, but we are going to try and I believe that we also have a strong team that is capable of winning again.”
“I think that the Champions League is a very complicated competition, but this year we have already done one thing against Real Madrid that didn’t happen against Tottenham, which is scoring away goals,” he said.
Last season City missed out on a Champions League spot after an away goal defeat to Tottenham in the last eight.
“Scoring two goals away at Real Madrid was so important and I believe that that was one of the big lessons about the match against Tottenham.
“Also, you must manage the game better when you have an advantage in a knockout game, as these little details can count for everything.
“Therefore, we are going to try to better what we have achieved in the previous two years in the Champions League, a competition that neither me nor the club has won before and we really want to do that this year.”
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