Manchester City

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola speaking to BT Sport: "A semi-final of the Champions League is already a big challenge and with the rivalry between the two teams we need a good performance.

"We need to play two good games. Last season we played two good games but were not able to get to the final. Every minute has to be at a high level."

On Kyle Walker attempting to nullify the threat of Vinicius Junior: "He [Kyle Walker] has to play as well. In that level in the latter stages [of this competition] every team has a special threat. We have one as well, and hopefully we can use him more than them."

Semra Hunter
La Liga TV presenter on BBC Radio 5 Live

In short, Carlo Ancelotti's future will be decided on what happens in the Champions League and how it happens. Let's say they get eliminated but it is really really close and they draw tonight and then lose at the Etihad by one goal. They [the board] might say he has done as best as he can and added a few trophies to the glass cabinet this season.

If they get absolutely smashed and lose 4-0 or something like that and get embarrassed, maybe Florentino Perez will say it is time for a change.

If you look at the market, there isn't anyone as of today who is a better fit for Real Madrid and vice versa.

Carlo Ancelotti is a fabulous manager. He's done more than many other managers in the history of the game. Even tonight he is equalling the record of Sir Alex Ferguson of 190 games in European competition and he has won more than anyone else.

I think he is the right man for the job. Whether he is tempted to go to Brazil, because Plan B is not too shabby either! That is his decision to make. He loves Madrid, he is so happy here and I think if it was up to him, it is probably likely he will stick around until June 2024.

Neil: Need Real Madrid to win 2-0 tonight. Not completely out of reach for City, but enough so they have to rest their key players against Everton.

Image source, Getty Images

Real Madrid and Manchester City will meet for the ninth time in European competition.

Both sides have won three of the previous eight meetings, drawing twice.

City could become the first English side to beat Real Madrid away from home in the Champions League on multiple occasions, having previously won 2-1 there in February 2020.

Image source, .

Where to begin with the phenomenon that is Erling Haaland?

The Norwegian 22-year-old has already scored more goals in a Premier League season than anyone before him and is just the second player in English top-flight history to net more than 50 times in all competitions - and the first for 95 years.

All this with a potential eight games left in the campaign, and in his debut Premier League season after his move to Manchester City from Borussia Dortmund for an initial £51.2m last summer.

Haaland's prolific exploits have helped the champions back to the top of the league table and eyeing a Treble, with an FA Cup final and two Champions League semi-finals against Real Madrid on the horizon.

So how did he get to be the player he is today?

Read more here.

Michael Owen
Former Real Madrid striker on BT Sport

Manchester City will know they dominated the European Champions for 170 of the 180 minutes last season. They battered them in fact.

I think there will have been a lot of soul searching since over where they went wrong.

But I think they will think they are better than this team and go into this game with a lot of confidence.

Image source, BBC Sport

Nigel Rothband, The Man City Show podcast, external:

Pep Guardiola made seven changes for the visit of Leeds United at the weekend and the 2-1 victory made it ten Premier League wins on the trot.

He will have to continue to fully utilise and rotate his squad if City are going to be successful in their fight for three major trophies. City will be playing a 'cup final' every weekend and midweek between now and the end of the season and it doesn’t get much tougher than Real Madrid away tonight.

Many commentators and pundits talk about the great depth of City’s squad, lazily making the argument that it is easier for them to navigate the volume of games as the season reaches its crescendo.

The truth is City are operating with one of the smallest squads in the league. In fact they have used the fewest number of players this season - just 22. The next closest team have used 25.

Credit should be given to the brilliant scouting and recruitment policy at the club. Although the squad is made up of some of the best talent on the planet, Saturday’s team included two academy graduates, Pep’s first signing from seven years ago and Nathan Ake, who was recruited after Bournemouth were relegated.

Ake is a perfect example of that recruitment policy. He is City’s most improved player this season who has benefited from working under Pep and his team. Not fit for tonight’s encounter, I wish him a speedy recovery so he can continue his fine form and brilliant contribution to the squad.

Rio Ferdinand
Former England defender on BT Sport

Carlo Ancelotti is one of the only managers around who can go into a room and raise an eyebrow look Pep Guardiola up and down and feel comfortable and think you have to look at my resume.

These two stand alone.

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This will be Pep Guardiola's 10th semi-final tie as a manager in the Champions League.

The City boss has been eliminated at this stage in six of the previous nine, which is the joint-most for any manager in the semi-finals of the competition (Jose Mourinho also on six).

Semra Hunter
La Liga TV presenter on BBC Radio 5 Live

I think it is a mixture of excitement as well as nerves. Madrid fans understand that Manchester City were a fantastic team last time out and like Pep Guardiola said, they played really well in the two games and it was unfortunate for them that they didn't go through.

A lot of Madrid fans are quite worried about the man [Erling Haaland] who can make the difference for Manchester City this time around. He's blowing away all kinds of records and matching the sort of tallies of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo at their peak.

There is a lot of excitement and confidence about what they can do in the competition. There is definitely a lot of nervousness in the air as well.

I think a lot of Madrid fans think it is not a matter of if but when Erling Haaland comes here in three or four years, probably Kylian Mbappe and Jude Bellingham. It is going to be an unbelievable team.

It could be the case that we see the match up of Manchester City and Real Madrid for the next five, ten years.

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester City midfielder Rodri says his team have learned lessons from last year's defeat to Real Madrid.

Despite Pep Guardiola saying tonight is not about seeking revenge, Rodri admitted there is "hunger" to do so from the players.

"We did 180 minutes brilliant but it is not enough sometimes - you can lose the leg in five minutes," he added.

"The last minutes in the last leg we didn't handle the right way and we have to learn from that. We have to kill them when we can."

Image source, Getty Images

Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti believes City are "a more complete team" than they were last year when the two faced each other.

"They had a very good forward in Gabriel Jesus, but he has different characteristics to Erling Haaland," added Ancelotti.

"Now, City can take advantage more of long balls, because they have a very tall striker, and behind him is [Kevin] De Bruyne, so they can win balls in the air.

"They have not changed their style. They are very well organised at the back and a team that handles the ball very well."

Joleon Lescott
Former Man City defender on BT Sport

This is what Man City want, they're here now. The belief they have as a group of players... They should be right up for this game.

The way they're performing, this is a different City team from last season. They pose a different threat and have a different level of belief.

Neil Lennon
Former Celtic midfielder on BBC Radio 5 Live

Both teams will try to impose their style of play. Even though they went on to win the competition last year, I think they are a lot better this year.

They've given up on La Liga. In the 14 times they have won this competition, they have only won the league four times in the same year. They are all out to win this competition again and they are brilliant at it.

This is a titanic game, one that I am so excited to watch. The cream of Europe is on show tonight, it's going to be a fascinating watch.

Image source, Marca

Erling Haaland has been welcomed in Madrid with the headline 'a monster comes to visit' on the front of sport newspaper Marca.

Haaland has scored 35 goals in 27 appearances in the Champions League, with his minutes-per-goal ratio (58) the best of any player in the competition's history (minimum of five goals scored).

Image source, Getty Images

City's bid for this Treble - only achieved once before in English football, by Manchester United in 1998-99 - has been spearheaded by the goals of Erling Haaland.

The 22-year-old Norway striker, signed from Borussia Dortmund for £51m last summer, has scored 51 goals in 46 games this season, including 12 in eight Champions League matches.

"Obviously Haaland is a very dangerous player. He's showing impressive qualities, above all in goalscoring. He's a threat," said Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti.

"Just talking about Haaland means not talking about a complete team that plays good football, defends well, attacks, that has ideas.

"We're not setting up for a game to stop Haaland, but to stop a team that seems unstoppable.

"But I think we can have chances to have an equal game, one that we can win."

Image source, Getty Images

Pep Guardiola believes City remain on track to finally win their first Champions League trophy.

They lost to Chelsea in the 2021 final.

"One day we will get it. We will get to the final and we will win it. We come here this season to do it," said Guardiola.

"To win this competition you have to beat the best teams and Madrid is the best team in this competition in the past decade."

Rio Ferdinand
Former England defender on BT Sport

This game, you would love to have it as the final. One club is an institution in this competition with 14 titles and the other are still trying to get off the mark and be held up alongside these clubs with a Champions League to their name.

It'll be a crazy game to watch.

It is a huge, huge game.

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Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos laughed off former England striker Wayne Rooney's suggestion City would "blow away" the Spanish side.

"It was the same a year ago, no? That Madrid were out, and we did it," said Kroos.

"I remember words from last year, not Rooney's - who is a guy I like a lot, apart from what he said - but it doesn't affect us.

"It doesn't motivate us more either, because it's impossible to be more motivated than we are."