Manchester City will take on Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League for the fourth successive season.
The defending European champions face Pep Guardiola’s team at the Etihad Stadium on February 11 in the first leg of their Round of 16 playoffs.
Both sides have struggled for consistency in the new league phase format this season and only one of them will progress into the knockouts ahead of two meetings inside eight days.
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Real Madrid have the edge in recent clashes, as they knocked City out in 2022 and 2024, either side of Guardiola eliminating his old foes in 2023 on route to winning a first-ever European title at the club.
A spot in the playoffs would not have been in the plans for either Ancelotti or Guardiola at the start of the campaign and City star Savinho believes the current situation is more of a declining reflection on his incoming opponents.
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What did Savinho say about Real Madrid?
The Brazil international has only scored twice in his debut campaign at City, once each in the Premier League and the Champions League, but he aimed a barb at Real Madrid ahead of the first leg.
“I think that we, as Man City, should not be in the playoffs. We should get to the next round in a more convincing way and not find ourselves in a play-off against Real Madrid,” as per quotes from Diario AS.
“But, it’s worth mentioning they, with all the weight their shirt carries, should not be in the playoffs either, with all due respect to the other teams. We have to be very careful.
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“I spoke to some of the Real Madrid players on international duty, and they said that sometimes because of the strength of their shield, they are losing 2-0, 3-0 and the game is not over, they know they can do what they did in the last Champions League campaign at any time – pull off a comeback in the last five minutes.
“We have to stay focused and score goals when we have chances, that will be very important. It’s a lesson I learned at Girona – we played very well, but we didn’t take our chances, and when they had a chance, they sealed the game.”
Savinho lost both of his matches at Girona against Real Madrid in his sole campaign in Catalonia despite the club sealing a first-ever Champions League qualification spot in 2024.
