Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Real Madrid, Manchester City, Champions League, Carlo Ancelotti, Pep Guardiola, Football
Rory O'Callaghan
Topics: Real Madrid, Manchester City, Champions League, Carlo Ancelotti, Pep Guardiola, Football
Carlo Ancelotti has given his take on Real Madrid potentially facing Manchester City in the next round of the Champions League after a disappointing league phase neither club would have expected.
Defending champions Real Madrid and 2022/23 winners City started the campaign as two of the favourites to win the Champions League this season.
However, both struggled for consistency throughout the league phase and missed out on a spot in the top eight, which guaranteed automatic qualification for the last 16 of the competition.
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City were forced to come from behind to beat Club Brugge 3-1 in their must-win final league phase game at the Etihad on Wednesday night, while Real Madrid had a more comfortable evening beating Brest 3-0 away from home.
Those results saw the Spanish giants finish 11th in the table, with City coming 22nd – with the Premier League club one of the unseeded teams in Friday's knockout phase play-off round draw.
Real will now face either City or Celtic in the play-offs and their manager Ancelotti made no secret of which team he would prefer to land in the draw.
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"We don't like to play against City... [they] have more chances to win the Champions League," Ancelotti said
"It's a draw and what comes, comes. To win the Champions League you have to win every game."
Ancelotti blamed Real Madrid's slow start this season for their failure to make the top eight.
"We should have woken up earlier in this competition. Now it's like this," he added.
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Bayern Munich are the other team City could draw on Friday and manager Pep Guardiola knows the size of the task facing his side to reach the last 16.
"Going to Bayern Munich or Real Madrid will be really tough," he said.
"But it's in two weeks and in two weeks we have a few players back, the new signings back, so hopefully we can do two good games.
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"They are better than us right now, both of them, but I don't know what’s going to happen in the next two weeks.
"Ruben [Dias] and Nathan [Ake] are back, Jeremy [Doku], Oscar [Bobb], new signings. If everybody comes back, we can compete."
The knockout phase play-offs will be played over the course of two weeks next month, with the first legs on February 11 and 12 and second legs on February 18 and 19.