Pep Guardiola sends clear message after first leg vs Real Madrid

Manchester City and Real Madrid played out a 1-1 draw at Santiago Bernabeu in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League semi-final tie. Vinicius Junior opened the scoring on the night with a superb strike. But then Kevin De Bruyne also scored a brilliant goal to bring things back level. And that’s how it ended after 90 minutes.

The result does give Manchester City a slight advantage, as they were able to avoid defeat at Santiago Bernabeu and will have home advantage in the second leg. But then, you should never consider Real Madrid as underdogs.

We saw them lose the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-finals against Barcelona only to win 4-0 at Camp Nou in the second leg. Thus, Carlo Ancelotti’s side are capable of some incredible things to say the very least.

There was some talk before the game about Manchester City destroying Real Madrid. As reported by GOAL, when a reporter for beIN SPORTS raised the topic, Pep Guardiola replied:

"“Who’s everyone? Do you know who we are playing against?“Do you know how many Champions League titles they [Real Madrid] have? It’s not my fault you thought we would win 6-0.”"

Guardiola sends clear message after first leg vs Real Madrid

Thus, despite all the talk about Manchester City potentially blowing Real Madrid away, the expectation always was that this was going to be a very close tie. That was the case last season as well, when Los Blancos came out on top by the skin of their teeth.

The difference is, Manchester City will have the home advantage in the second leg this time around. Of course, it is nothing that Real Madrid have not dealt with in the past.

This team has incredible experience at the very top level and seem to raise their game, the bigger the occasion gets. Thus, fans will be looking forward to a huge performance from the players, when they face Manchester City in the second leg next week at the Ethiad Stadium.