PETE JENSON: Real Madrid are confident of toppling Man City again with no title race to sweat over

Real Madrid remain confident they can overcome Manchester City at the Etihad next week and Dani Carvajal let slip the biggest reason why.

‘We have eight days to prepare, we have Getafe in the meantime, but they (City) are playing for the league,’ said the defender.

Madrid’s match on Saturday night is largely irrelevant to their season. They are 14 points behind leaders Barcelona and Carlo Ancelotti could rest all his first IX for the game.

Madrid are acutely aware that Pep Guardiola will not be afforded the same luxury with a trip to Everton the following day.

Carvajal will almost certainly be one of those who does not start at the weekend. He had his left ankle in ice after the first leg and will have a week to prepare for round two of his personal duel with Jack Grealish.

Asked why Madrid laid off City in the opening half hour Carvajal said: ‘It was out of respect to them because we did not want to go behind early.’

Respect was the word most used in the Spanish post-match analysis with El Mundo headlining its match report ‘Two thunderclaps as we await the storm’.

There was a sense that the two best teams in Europe had not wanted either to steal an early advantage and now it really does come down to 90 minutes in Manchester.

Wayne Rooney’s comments that City would not just win but destroy Madrid had been duly rubbished by a first leg performance lit-up by Vinicius scoring his 23rd goal of the season – his first from outside the area in the Champions League.

The Spanish had also shown that Haaland is only human.

The same Madrid media which had depicted him as a Norse God before the game, reveled in the fact that the only Halaand running amok at the Bernabeu was his father Alf-Inge moved from one VIP box to another after an exchange of insults and buffet food with angry home supporters who didn’t like the way they celebrated City’s equalizer.

Not that Madrid are not keenly aware of the ongoing threat of Europe’s top scorer. One dry day doesn’t mean the rainy season is over and they have noted that the City centre-forward has scored 35 of his 51 goals at home.

The job done on him by former Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger has given Ancelotti a difficult decision ahead of the second leg.

Three weeks ago it would have been unthinkable that Eder Militao would not start having served his one match ban.

But his league form has been so poor since that Ancelotti admitted he needed to ‘wake up soon’.

And now after Rudiger’s performance there will be the temptation to repeat the back four at the Etihad.

There was another reason for Madrid’s quiet confidence – Ancelotti’s record against Guardiola in the Champions League. They have now met in five games with three wins, a draw and a defeat for the Italian coach.

There was even a Guardiola-style intervention from Ancelotti in the second half with Eduardo Camavinga moving from left back into midfield.

‘The manager wanted us to have more of the ball and we played better with Camavinga there,’ explained Luka Modric.

‘Camavinga is indecipherable for Pep’ headlined Diario AS pointing out that the 20-year-old was fouled more often than Vinicius during the game as City struggled to control him.

Guardiola said on Tuesday night that his team had lacked the aggressiveness to score more and that he had an idea of how he could put that right in the second game.

His gameplan, however, will have to include preventing Madrid from winning the tie with their counter attacks.

For all that Ancelotti has made them a great passing team the quick transitions remain their greatest weapon. The fifth goal in the 5-2 at Anfield in the last-16 was an example of how they have perfected the art.

It’s another reason why, far from being disillusioned by failing to win the home leg, Madrid will travel to Etihad full of belief.

They have only won two Champions League semi-finals after not winning the first leg – but both times those wins came against Manchester City.