The Champions League will not define Manchester City’s place in the pantheon of English football’s best teams, Steve McManaman says.
And Real Madrid ’s unrivalled success in the European Cup should not be a major factor in their semi-final clash despite repeated failures from the Premier League leaders weighing heavily on their shoulders.
McManaman, who won the trophy twice as a Real player in 2000 and 2002, considers this last four collision as the real final with the winner going into a shootout against Milan or Inter as massive favourites.
“I don’t get het up on it,” McManaman said of Pep Guardiola’s team being judged upon their Champions League fortunes. “I don’t diminish them because they haven’t won it. Sometimes it’s hard to win it. Things have to go absolutely spot on and correct over 90 minutes. You can’t get sent off, you can’t hit the post, you can’t give away a penalty.
“I’ve said this before, when I watch Pep – at Bayern he never won the Champions League and his predecessor did. But the Bayern Munich he took over, he made them a better team. Whether you like it or loathe it or judge it on what trophies he won, he made them a better team to watch and better on the eye and score more goals and be fluid.
“He’s done that at City. They’re a fantastic team. If you’re a Man City critic, you may say ‘Until he’s won the Champions League without Messi, he’s not this or he’s not that.’ But they’re a fantastic team and it’s a bloody hard trophy to win.
“They’ve got a wonderful opportunity now. And if they win this they will be massive favourites for the final. But it certainly doesn’t diminish what they’ve achieved because they are playing incredible football. That’s all I’m interested in to be honest.”
Real came back from the dead to beat City 6-5 on aggregate at the same stage last season – having been 5-3 down in the final minute of normal time in the second leg – before going on to edge out Liverpool in the final.
But McManaman does not believe that will be a factor this time around and City playing the second game at home will work to their advantage.
The contrasting histories of the respective clubs, with Real winning the European Cup on an unmatched 14 occasions, will also have minimal impact on the players come 9pm in Madrid on Tuesday evening.
“The fans might use the history,” he added. “The people around the game may. But I don’t think the players will. They’ve been here before. You’ve got World Cup winners, you’ve got people who’ve won all kinds of trophies. I don’t think they will bat an eyelid at the respective histories of both teams and one has been dominant.
“What happened last year will completely go out the window. Man City are playing in Madrid in the first leg, that’s changed from last year, they’ve got an elite goalscorer up top for them. Players won’t have any focus on the respective history. They’ll go out knowing who they play against, they’ll know the pros and cons of every player they are going out to play against and try to stop those individual battles.
“Militao and Rudiger or Militao and Alaba has to stop Erling Haaland. Modric and Tchouameni – does Camavinga play left back? – will have to stop De Bruyne. On the other side it’s the exact same.
"City need to stop Vinicius because they didn’t stop him last year at the Etihad. They’re going to have to stop Benzema because they didn’t stop him. Those individual battles you have to win them and then the best team comes out on top.”
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