Guardiola Confesses to ‘Misleading’ on Man City’s ‘One Per Cent Chance’ Against Real Madrid

Pep Guardiola (54) admitted on Tuesday that he was engaging in a bit of psychological play with his claim that Manchester City faced only a “one percent” chance of overcoming holders Real Madrid in the Champions League during their second-leg clash.

His squad finds themselves trailing after a late collapse allowed Real to triumph 3-2 at the Etihad in the first leg last week.

As the teams prepared to meet again in Madrid, Real manager Carlos Ancelotti light-heartedly suggested to the media that Guardiola didn’t even believe his own pessimistic prediction and mentioned he might bring it up with him before the match.

“I fibbed about the one percent chance. For the first time, I told a fib,” a smiling Guardiola responded during his press conference.

“After the 2-3 loss, few had faith in us. It’s not the ideal result, but we can still pull it off. Carlo won’t need to say anything to me before the match.”

With not many expecting the 2023 champions to overturn the odds against the 15-time Champions League winners to secure a spot in the last 16, Guardiola at least received a boost with leading scorer Erling Haaland returning to training on Tuesday after he limped off during Saturday’s 4-0 rout against Newcastle with a suspected knee injury.

Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake, and Jack Grealish also participated in training after all three missed the victory over Newcastle.

Guardiola remained tight-lipped on whether any, or all, of them would feature, stating: “They’ve travelled with us. We’ll see tomorrow, but it’s positive news that they’re here.”

‘Never easy’

Guardiola is no stranger to the intense atmosphere of Real’s Bernabeu Stadium, recalling he has had “remarkably good memories” there, with some being great and others not so much.

“It’s never been an easy venue,” he added.

When asked what it would take for his side, currently sitting fourth in the Premier League following a challenging few months, to conquer Real on their home turf, Guardiola said, “You have to play with bravery and be true to yourself. We need to deliver an almost flawless performance.”

City midfielder Bernardo Silva reflected back in November on how he and his teammates had found themselves in “a dark place” after a heavy 4-1 defeat to Sporting in a previous phase of the tournament. However, the 30-year-old expressed optimism that the team’s spirits were improving.

“When a team has been so successful as we have in the last seven to eight seasons, losing a few matches feels unfamiliar. After a rough patch, we don’t accept it,” he said.

“I genuinely believe we’re in a better place now. Results aren’t perfect yet, but we’re certainly not in that same dark space, especially not personally, as I previously felt.”