Real Madrid have quite the atmosphere at their home matches, but Pep Guardiola is confident his players will manage just fine on Wednesday.
Manchester City will take to the famous Bernabeu pitch tomorrow in hopes of defeating Real Madrid in the Champions League.
The La Liga club’s fans have a reputation for making a lot of noise and so it can be a tough place to go and play football.
However, Man City already picked up a win there in the league phase and Pep Guardiola believes his team will be able to handle the crowd if they deliver a good performance.
Man City are used to playing at the Bernabeu
Meetings between Manchester City and Real Madrid have become very common in the Champions League.
In fact, City have played at Madrid’s ground six times in the past six years, so Guardiola and his players know what they are up against.
The manager said in his pre-match press conference: “Emotions come when you play bad or the opponents better.
“It is not the first time we are here, we have come many times and a lot of players know it. For sure, good things cannot happen if you are not who you are.”
Later on he added: “If we are not able to handle this situation when we play at Anfield or Old Trafford or Emirates or Stamford Bridge or Bayern Munich or PSG in that moment, you have to live that.
“It is better to be here than not to be here. I prefer to be here and come to this stadium in the last-16 because that means we are in more or less the elite of Europe.
“This club was never there 12 or 13 years ago so as much as you play these games, it is always learning and always experience for the future. Of course we want to go through and are going to give everything to go through next Tuesday and continue.”
Man City have a mixed record playing in Madrid
Real Madrid defeated Man City on the first two occasions which saw the Sky Blues travel to the Bernabeu. Despite this, the visiting team were victorious in the 2019/20 last 16, winning 2-1 at the iconic stadium.
Real Madrid got the better of Man City two seasons later and the the following year saw the Spanish leg of their tie end in a 1-1 draw.
The season after, the teams drew 3-3 and Real Madrid picked up a 3-1 victory in the play-off round last year.
However, it was City who won at the Bernabeu earlier in the season and Guardiola will be looking to lead his team to victory once again.
