Manchester City

That was short and sweet from Ruben Dias - the Manchester City defender has now made his way out of the media room, but stay with us for his best quotes.

Manchester City

Manchester City centre-back Ruben Dias on their Champions League chances: "Since I've been here, this has been the most difficult season so far.

"But I'm a firm believer that even in the most difficult scenario, most difficult beginning, you can still do something and achieve something beautiful in the end.

"Right now, we are still in that position. Obviously we know how difficult our opposition is and how difficult our way will be to get there.

"But it's a question of believing in what we have in the dressing room and we have loads of talent. We just have to use them in the right way.

"With the right belief, we are able to do anything."

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester City

Pep Guardiola on how highly he rates Real Madrid's forward players: "It's impossible in 90/120/200 minutes to control these players. They are exceptional - how they combine, the runners, the ability one against one, how they keep the ball, all four are exceptional. Everybody knows it, so you have to reduce that involvement as much as possible, knowing that it's going to happen, accept it."

Simon Stone
BBC Sport's chief football news reporter

A Spanish journalist reminded Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola of the "sacked in the morning" chants from the Leyton Orient supporters at the weekend, before his side fought back to win their fourth-round FA Cup tie.

He asked if Guardiola feels he is fighting for his job at the moment.

I am not sure the City manager appreciated the question.

"No," he said.

"I don’t know if a doctor will be asked about his position like this.

"I am here because of what I have won in previous seasons. I don’t think I am going to be thrown out onto the street."

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester City

Manchester City defender Ruben Dias says the team can "still do something beautiful" in the Champions League with the talent they have in the dressing, despite the problems they have had in maintaining a challenge for the Premier League title.

He also said that he didn't spend time thinking about Real Madrid's decision not to send their players to the Ballon d'Or presentation - he was too busy enjoying the night with team-mate Rodri.

More to follow.

Manchester City

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola: "I will not deny how trust with the players who gave us that incredible decade, winning a lot of things and playing a high standard, I know what we are capable of.

"Of course, we are going to prepare today with the team, what we are going to challenge and hopefully we can perform well."

Manchester City

We still have some more quotes to bring you from Pep Guardiola but for those following the live stream in this page, the Manchester City manager has now finished his news conference.

Defender Ruben Dias is next up, so stay with us.

Manchester City

More from Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola on whether they feel more like underdogs this time against Real Madrid: "I don't know. I think both teams have had problems in terms of injuries during the season. I think Madrid handle it much better than us because they are still top of the league and fighting against Atletico Madrid. That shows again the consistency they have.

"At the end they are a huge competitor. We know it. We have faced many times with them and how in the tough moments they bring the best of them - we know it. Of course we have to make two good games to go through."

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester City

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola on whether there will be any hard feelings after Real Madrid didn't attend the Ballon d'Or award presentation: "Absolutely not."

On what he thought about it at the time: "Happy for Rodri, Vinicius had an extraordinary year as well, could deserve it."

Manchester City

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola on whether Manchester City and Real Madrid is the great Champions League rivalry of this era: "In terms of the last decade yeah, maybe, because it's not normal to play the same rival all the time.

"In terms of history, Champions League, at the end we cannot compare to be honest against Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Barcelona or AC Milan. This kind of group.

"In the last decade we have been around. In the last years, the draw, we play against them."

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester City

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola on playing the home leg first: "We play the second game away because we were not good enough in the group stage. We didn't deserve it [to go straight through to the last 16].

He added: "The team, our team, has something special and hopefully tomorrow we can prove it."

More to follow.

Manchester City

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola on playing Real Madrid in the knockout play-offs: "The group stage, the knockout stage is always difficult, we have not done quite well in the group stage so we deserve to be where we are. The draw is the draw and [we] accept the challenge."

Manchester City

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola was asked about Real Madrid's decision not to attend the Ballon d'Or award presentation, when City midfielder Rodri won the main prize.

He said he was happy for his player, but accepted that Real's Brazil forward Vinicius Jnr would have also been a worthy winner.

More to follow.

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester City

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is in the chair and ready to go.

His first question is on whether playing Real Madrid at this stage diminishes the importance of the tie.

"The draw is the draw and we accept the challenge," says the City boss.

Watch his news conference via the tab at the top of this page.

More to follow.

Image source, Getty Images

If Manchester City have a few selection concerns, Real Madrid could have even more...

Something to be aware of ahead of tomorrow's game at the Etihad is the number of Real Madrid players walking the proverbial yellow card "tightrope".

No fewer than six Los Blancos players could be suspended for the second leg if they are booked - and the list is almost exclusively big hitters (admittedly, that is the case with any list of Real Madrid players):

• Jude Bellingham
• Aurelien Tchouameni
• Eduardo Camavinga
• Endrick
• Antonio Rudiger
• Luka Modric

Simon Stone
BBC Sport's chief football news reporter

Manchester City escaped with a victory at Leyton Orient on Saturday.

But Pep Guardiola did not leave Brisbane Road without a major injury concern over new signing Nico Gonzalez, who had to go off after getting hurt in the build-up to Jamie Donley's amazing 50-yard strike.

"I hope so but I don't know," said Guardiola afterwards when asked if Gonzalez would be fit for tomorrow's Champions League play-off with Real Madrid at the Etihad Stadium.

"The kick was strong and we will see."

The £50m deadline-day signing from Porto has been earmarked to fill Rodri's central midfield holding role.

Guardiola is due to speak to the media at 12:30 GMT when he will give an update.

Image source, Getty Images

The Champions League knockout stage begins this week with the new play-off round and there are some very tasty ties.

None more so than 2023 winners Manchester City taking on holders Real Madrid.

The first leg is at the Etihad tomorrow, kick-off at 20:00 GMT, and we'll be hearing from City boss Pep Guardiola from 12:30 ahead of that.

The second leg in Madrid is next Wednesday, 19 February, and is also a 20:00 kick-off.

Image source, Getty Images

As Simon Stone mentioned, if you feel like this is something of a familiar match-up, that's because it is!

Having never played against each other in a competitive fixture prior to the 2012-13 season, Manchester City and Real Madrid having now met on 12 occasions - two group stage fixtures and five two-legged knockout ties.

In fact, this will be the fourth season running in which they've faced each other in the Champions League - and the fifth time in the past six seasons.

The Spanish giants came out on top on penalties last season after the quarter-final tie finished 4-4 on aggregate and also claimed a stunning semi-final win, 6-5 on aggregate, after two 90th-minute goals forced extra-time in 2021-22.

However, City got the better of Madrid in the last four in 2022-23 on their way to lifting the trophy for the first time and also did for Los Blancos in 2019-20, winning 4-2 on aggregate in a tie in which the second leg took place five months after the first because of the coronavirus pandemic.

City have also won four of the 12 previous meetings to Madrid's three.

Image source, Getty Images

Before anyone gets too excited, this is for the entirety of the second half of the season so don't expect to see Rodri in the Manchester City squad tomorrow.

But news that the Spain midfielder, who has been out with an ACL injury since September, even has a chance of being back before the end of the season is good news for Pep Guardiola's side.

Under Uefa rules City were allowed to make three changes to the 25-man squad so new signings Omar Marmoush, Nico Gonzalez and Abdukodir Khusanov have been added.

Vitor Reis, another January addition, misses out.

Simon Stone
BBC Sport's chief football news reporter

This is the fourth season in a row Manchester City have faced Real Madrid in the Champions League.

The score is 2-1 to the Spanish giants - although City beat them in 2023 en-route to winning the tournament for the first time.

At the start of the season, I doubt anyone felt the pair would meet quite so early.

After stuttering starts in the competition, one of them will not even make the last-16.

Pep Guardiola and Ruben Dias will look ahead to the first leg shortly.

Image source, BBC Sport