Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has said that his side are not out for “revenge” ahead of their Champions League clash with Real Madrid tonight.
The last time these two sides played in the competition it was just over a year ago, with Los Blancos winning the tie 3-1 in the second leg and 6-5 on aggregate.
This time round the situation is very similar with the contest once against taking place in the semi-finals, the winner will face either Inter Milan or AC Milan in the final.
Speaking ahead of the game in his most recent press conference, Guardiola has accepted what happened in the past and is hopeful they can do what they can do enough to see themselves through to the final.
He stated, “We’re not here for revenge, just for an opportunity. What happened, happened in the past, they deserved it in the end because they wanted it. I believe in football when you want it, it’s because you deserve it.
“Am I going to say that we were not a proper team to fight to reach the final last season? No, we did everything, more than everything to reach the final.
“Hopefully, we can learn and play better in the last minutes or score the goals.”
The Spaniard’s comments are certainly very calm and professional, a mindset which has seen him land the competition twice in the past with Barcelona.
However, Guardiola is yet to win the Champions League with Man City. You’d suspect he’d been especially eager to win it this season.
City could win a treble in the 2022/23 campaign if they were able to land the Premier League, FA Cup and the aforementioned trophy.