18 February 2025
Spanish coach Pep Guardiola considered Manchester City's chances of overcoming host Real Madrid, the defending champions, and reaching the round of 16 of the Champions League football competition are only "1 percent", but the new faces may give the Premier League champions a much greater chance than that.
A week ago, Real confirmed that they are an invincible force in their beloved competition and that their record 15 titles did not come by chance, by shocking City at home 3-2 in the dying moments of the first leg of the play-off qualifying for the round of 16.
It seemed that City would go to the Bernabeu with a one-goal advantage, with a 2-1 lead thanks to a brace from Norwegian Erling Haaland until the 86th minute, before Moroccan substitute Ibrahim Diaz had his say less than two minutes after entering by equalizing, then the comeback was completed with a fatal goal by Englishman Jude Bellingham as a result of two defensive errors.
But Guardiola's side showed a glimmer of hope on Saturday as they thrashed Newcastle 4-0 in the Premier League thanks to a hat-trick from newcomer Egyptian Omar Marmoush in the space of 14 minutes.
In an attempt to remedy the situation in this disastrous season for the Premier League champions in the past four seasons, City's management spent 170 million pounds sterling to sign Marmoush, Uzbek Abdulkadir Khusanov, Spaniard Nico Gonzalez and Brazilian Vitor Reis.
But Marmoush was the only player to play in the first leg against Real, waiting until the 84th minute to enter the field, a decision that Guardiola may regret, especially after the Egyptian, Khusanov and Gonzalez played the main role against Newcastle, where City played their best match of the season.
Guardiola was impressed by what he saw from the new trio, saying about Marmoush, who came from Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany, "The highlight is the three goals, we knew that in Germany, in Frankfurt, he achieved good numbers".
Regarding Gonzalez, Guardiola said, "Having Nico helps us a lot... The club made an incredible investment in the future. He was a player in Barcelona's academy, which is considered the best in the world," while praising Khusanov's speed, adding, "That's why we bought him, he is very fast."
Guardiola will need all of these qualities in Wednesday's match, where "the margin of victory at the Bernabeu after this situation, everyone knows, the percentage of qualification, it could be 1 percent... it will be very small," the Spaniard said, adding, "We will try as much as possible, that's for sure. We will play as we usually do, but the reality is that this season we are far from our levels."
City had previously experienced almost the same scenario against Real in the semi-finals of the 2021-22 season, when the English team hosted the first leg and completely dominated it, leading its royal rival twice by two goals before finally settling for a single goal advantage 4-3.
Unlike City, Real enters Wednesday's match after stumbling at the weekend against Osasuna 1-1, which allowed its rival Barcelona to displace it from the top of La Liga on goal difference.
Once again, Real objected to the refereeing, especially Bellingham's expulsion before the end of the first half for addressing the referee with a phrase considered "normal" in English (f*** off), but it cost him a red card after the referee interpreted it in his own way (f*** you).
