Manchester Metropolis supervisor Pep Guardiola has acknowledged that his staff 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 possibilities 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 probability 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 tricky problem.
To advance to the subsequent spherical, they should both win by a one-goal margin to drive additional time or safe a victory by two targets or extra to progress throughout the 90 minutes of standard time.
Guardiola stays optimistic however real looking about their state of affairs, acknowledging that whereas the win in opposition to Newcastle offers them a lift, it doesn’t change the cruel actuality of their Champions League predicament.
“It’s clear that this victory helps us and we’ll attempt as a lot as doable, that’s for positive, however this isn’t the truth of the staff.”
Guardiola admitted that it’s actually higher to journey to Madrid with a victory fairly than one other disappointing defeat, particularly one which got here late within the recreation. Nonetheless, he was fast to level out that their possibilities of turning the tie round are slim because of the 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 few minutes. However our chances are high 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 have been main 2-1, however the late targets by Actual Madrid modified the course of the match.
Guardiola emphasised that though their chances are high few, the staff will do their finest to capitalise on any alternatives that come their approach, and they’ll give it all the things they’ve acquired within the second leg.
“5 minutes earlier than the top we have been 2-1 up and issues have been completely different. At 2-3, the probabilities are few, however we’ll attempt to make the most of our alternatives and we’ll see what occurs,” he concluded.