Hold your breath, it’s Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City vs Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid in the 2023-24 Champions League quarterfinals. The draw is undoubtedly the biggest in world football at present. It has little history, but it’s mouthwatering nonetheless.
On the one hand, there is the greatest football club of all time in Europe with a record 35 La Liga and 14 Champions League/European Cup titles. On the other, there is Manchester City, the biggest English club at present. In the last decade or so, they have left Manchester United and Chelsea far behind to become the number one club in England.
Ever since the Abu Dhabi United Group took over the club in 2008, the Citizens have soared to the skies in terms of achievements. They have won seven Premier League titles since and last season, they also broke the jinx of the Champions League by beating Inter Milan in the final.
This is the third successive season City have drawn Real in the knockout stage of the competition. Despite having been relatively new in the Champions League arena, they have had the upper hand in what should come as a surprise to many. To date, these two clubs have met 10 times in the Champions League and City hold the edge at 4-3 with the remaining three ending in a draw.
The first time City and Real came face to face was in the 2012-13 edition where both were paired in Group D. The Spanish giants took advantage of the inexperience of Manchester City in Europe and won the first leg at home 3-2. In the second leg at City, the points were split after a 1-1 draw.
In 2015-16, when the next time these two clubs met in the semis, Real again emerged victorious. The first leg was a goalless draw while the second leg saw Los Blancos win 1-0 at home. In 2019-20, City registered their first win against Real, followed by a second soon. Guardiola’s men won both the Round of 16 matches by a scoreline of 2-1.
Real avenged themselves on City in 2021-22. After losing the first leg 4-3, eventual champions Real won the second 2-1 thanks to two late unbelievable goals from Rodrygo which took the match to extra time where Karim Benzema scored from the spot to take the Spanish club to the final on 6-5 aggregate.
Last season, it was City’s turn to get their own back on Real. City and Real split points in the first leg after a 1-1 draw at Bernabeu. In the second, it was carnage with City totally crushing the Spanish team in the second leg as they ran away to a 4-0 win and a place in the final where they beat Inter 1-0.
The first leg of the upcoming tie will be played on April 9 at Bernabeu, while the second will be played exactly seven days later. The next few weeks are tough for Guardiola’s men. They are looking to win their fourth successive Premier League title which no one has done in English football before. City trail leaders Arsenal (on goal difference) and Liverpool (2nd) by one point at present and it appears the three-horse race would go down to the wire. Besides, they can also become the first English team to win back-to-back Champions League trophies.
The Premier League looks much tighter than La Liga. Real are enjoying a comfortable seven and eight-point leads over Girona and Barcelona after 28 games. Real look in a great position to win the league. While it means they can focus better on the Champions League, it can go the other way around too. There is no guarantee that less pressure in the domestic league can do wonders in the European club competition.
In the case of City, they have no respite, neither in the Premier League nor the Champions League. They are also playing Arsenal later this month (March 31) & Aston Villa (April 4) and those two tough matches can prepare them well against Real (who are playing lesser teams in the lead-up to the first leg) in terms of pressure-handling.
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