Manchester Metropolis supervisor Pep Guardiola has acknowledged that his crew is heading into the second leg of their Champions League play-off in opposition to Actual Madrid with a way of realism.
After their 3-2 defeat within the first leg on the Etihad Stadium, Guardiola has made it clear that Actual Madrid are the overwhelming favourites to progress to the final 16.
He admitted that the probabilities of Metropolis profitable on the Santiago Bernabeu are extraordinarily slim. In his phrases, the prospect of success is minimal, and he isn’t positive if it even reaches 1%.
“The margin of likelihood to win on the Bernabeu, and everybody is aware of that. I don’t know if it reaches 1% or how a lot, however it’s minimal,” he admitted as quoted by .
Approaching the again of a win
Following a powerful 4-0 win over Newcastle within the Premier League, Manchester Metropolis now faces a troublesome problem.
To advance to the following spherical, they should both win by a one-goal margin to pressure additional time or safe a victory by two targets or extra to progress throughout the 90 minutes of standard time.
Guardiola stays optimistic however sensible about their scenario, acknowledging that whereas the win in opposition to Newcastle offers them a lift, it doesn’t change the tough actuality of their Champions League predicament.
“It’s clear that this victory helps us and we’ll attempt as a lot as attainable, that’s for positive, however this isn’t the fact of the crew.”
Guardiola admitted that it’s definitely higher to journey to Madrid with a victory relatively than one other disappointing defeat, particularly one which got here late within the recreation. Nevertheless, he was fast to level out that their probabilities of turning the tie round are slim as a result of consequence within the first leg.
“It’s clear that it’s higher to journey to Madrid with this consequence than with one other defeat in the previous couple of minutes. However our likelihood is minimal as a result of the consequence within the first leg was not good,” he famous.
With simply 5 minutes remaining within the first leg, Metropolis had been main 2-1, however the late targets by Actual Madrid modified the course of the match.
Guardiola emphasised that though their likelihood is few, the crew will do their finest to capitalise on any alternatives that come their means, and they’re going to give it every little thing they’ve received within the second leg.
“5 minutes earlier than the top we had been 2-1 up and issues had been totally different. At 2-3, the possibilities are few, however we’ll attempt to reap the benefits of our alternatives and we’ll see what occurs,” he concluded.