Guardiola admits City have a 1% chance of beating Real Madrid

Real Madrid are set to welcome Manchester City to the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu for the second leg of the Champions League playoff round.

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola was in a pessimistic mood ahead of his side’s Champions League second leg against Real Madrid, admitting that he believes his side have just a “1% chance” of overcoming the defending champions.

A crazy game at the Etihad Stadium in northwest England saw the home side slip up and fall to a 2-3 defeat against a resilient if not stunning Madrid side. Led by Jude Bellingham, Los Blancos, dressed in orange, scored a late goal in added time to seal the victory and take a valuable lead back to the Spanish capital.

“The margin to win at the Bernabéu in that position [3-2 down], everybody knows that if you ask before the game, the percentage to go through, I don’t know, we arrive at 1%, or I don’t know what,” Guardiola sheepishly claimed to reporters in his pre-game press appearance.

‘The chance is minor because the result was not good’

“It will be minimal, but as much as you have a chance, we will try, that’s for sure, you know?”, he added. “The chance is minor because the result was not good - five minutes ago, with 2-1, it would be different. But with 2-3, the chance is less, but as much as you have a chance, we are going to take it, and we’ll see what happens.”

City have been going through their worst season since Guardiola took charge in 2016, losing 12 games in all competitions and looking a shadow of their former selves, a dominant, all-conquering machine.

But football can change in an instant. Over the weekend, while the Premier Legaue side put their Champions League ghosts in a drawer with an emphatic 4-0 home win over Newcastle United, Real Madrid lost away to Osasuna as Bellingham was controversially sent off. “And that was not just the three points”, Pep admitted in the aftermath, “it’s how it is affecting our minds for the next game. “It happened a lot of times. This season, the reality is that we have been miles, miles away.

City will now travel to Spain to take on Real Madrid on Wednesday 19 February at 3pm ET.