After their semi-final first leg on Tuesday, which ended in a 1-1 tie, Jack Grealish of Manchester City said that the club is optimistic that they will be able to complete the job against Real Madrid at home and go to the Champions League final.
Pep Guardiola’s squad is getting closer to winning the Premier League, the Champions League, and the FA Cup all in the same season. City has won all 14 games played at the Etihad Stadium this season by a total score of 49-7.
But what matters most to the English champions is establishing their dominance in Europe for the very first time.
City endured the agony of losing to Madrid at the same level of the tournament the previous year. A late collapse by City in the second leg of the match, which took place at the Santiago Bernabeu, allowed the Spanish giants to go on and win the title for the 14th time.
The fact that neither team was able to pull ahead during the first leg in Madrid suggests that having the match at their own stadium may be the deciding factor this time around.
Both goals were magnificent shots from beyond the penalty area, with Kevin De Bruyne equalizing the score after Vinicius Junior had opened the scoring.
“At the Etihad at the moment, we feel unstoppable,” Grealish said in an interview with BT Sport.
“We came here tonight to try to win, but I think it shows the character of our team that we were able to come back from being down by a goal and win.” In the end, it was an outcome that was just.
The current win streak for City in all competitions is at 21 games.
However, they were not playing at their most fluid as Madrid was able to effectively cut off the supply line to Erling Haaland, who has scored 51 goals.
The away team had the upper hand in terms of possession up until the 36th minute, when Real Madrid delivered a sucker punch by having Vinicius drive forward and blast into the top corner of the goal.
However, after halftime, the roles were turned as De Bruyne scored a goal for City by drilling the ball past his Belgian international colleague Thibaut Courtois just as City seemed to be on the verge of being eliminated.
When we were performing at a higher level, they scored. When they were stronger, we were able to score,” Guardiola remarked. “It was a close game, Bernabeu, and the semifinals are always challenging. 1-1, and we will play the championship game next Wednesday at our stadium in front of our fans.”
Since Guardiola took over as manager, Manchester City have dominated English football. They have won the Premier League each of the last six years, and they are on the verge of winning it again.
However, they have not yet achieved the same level of success on the European scene. In contrast to Madrid’s vast experience, City have never been to the Champions League final in their whole existence. Madrid, on the other hand, have won the tournament three times.
“They have such high expectations. They are so talented, they have the experience, and they are of such high quality,” Guardiola said.
“At this point, they are heading to Manchester, and we are going to evaluate how we can improve things.
When you play games of this kind, it’s almost like you’re in the playoffs. The second (game), you learn a lot from the first, and hopefully we can learn, and improve both our offense and our defense.