Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola admits he is enjoying the new Champions League “tradition” of pitting his side against Real Madrid.
After two straight years of meeting in the semi-finals, City and Madrid will do battle in this year’s quarter-final. Both sides have one victory each, with Guardiola’s team currently holding the bragging rights after dumping Madrid out en route to winning the trophy.
“It looks like a little bit of a tradition, three years in a row playing the kings of the competition,” Guardiola said of the latest draw.
“Hopefully we can arrive in a good moment but there are still a few weeks before the first game in Madrid.
“When people say draws are easy, you undermine the other opponent but it’s not necessary to say what Real Madrid are in this competition. When you play the latter stages you play against the best teams in Europe and Real Madrid are totally there.
“But all the opponents are really tough, everybody knows it. We were excited before the draw because it’s a privilege every time we are here. It is a special competition.”
Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti admitted the draw had been unkind to his side but acknowledged the fact that any team who wants to win the Champions League will have to go through City at some point.
“City are one of the favourites, we all think so and it will be very hard,” he said.
“The idea we have is to win the competition and, to do that, you must beat the best. City may be the best in Europe at the moment. It will be tough, of course, but if you want to be European champions, you must eliminate them.
“It’s going to be a great quarter-final and we will play them with confidence, fighting until the last minute as always. I don’t know what [City] think there, it will be similar to here. One year we won, one year they won. We will see.
“It is a very close tie. Very close. I think there is no favourite.”
