Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola admitted that his team will need a perfect game for the miracle comeback against Real Madrid in the second leg of the round of 16 in the UEFA Champions League. City suffered a 3-0 loss against Los Blancos in the first-leg with Federico Valverde scoring a hat-trick.
The Spaniard coach earlier admitted it would be nigh impossible for his team to make a comeback in the second leg at home.
“It has to be a perfect game in many, many departments,” Guardiola said at a news conference Monday. “Our people, the referee decisions — for many, many things, it has to be so good to make these kinds of things.
“We have to take more risks in terms of trying, but even if the result is not good in the first half, we have to keep going, carry on, go, because you never know. You never know.”
Meanwhile, miracles have happened in the past at the Etihad Stadium. The Sky Blues needed to win their last Premier League match against Aston Villa in the 2022 season, but the visitors led by 2-0. However, the home team scored three goals in the last five minutes to pip Liverpool in the title race.
“Four years ago we were losing 2-0 at home against Villa in the 70th minute. In 10 minutes, we scored three goals,” Bernardo Silva recalled. “I know that this might look a bit stupid what I’m about to say, but when I watched back [the first leg in Madrid], I didn’t see a reason for us to be losing 3-0 at halftime. The result was much worse than the performance in my opinion.
“Obviously, in football, that counts zero, that counts for nothing. In football, a lot can happen, so we shouldn’t lose our heads. Stay in the game and try to create that atmosphere that everyone believes it is possible.”
City will host Real Madrid in the second leg on Tuesday.
