Pep Guardiola tells Man City players what they need to beat Real Madrid

straight to your inbox Pep Guardiola dismissed the idea that Manchester City have given themselves the best chance in their history of winning the Champions League. The Blues completed the job against Real Madrid with a 2-1 win at the Etihad on Friday night to qualify for the last-eight tournament which starts in Lisbon on Wednesday.

straight to your inbox Pep Guardiola said that beating Real Madrid twice is an important step in preparing Manchester City to win the Champions League. But if beating the 13-times winners home and away has strengthened the Blues’ mentality and self-belief, the Blues boss says they quickly have to put it into perspective.

straight to your inbox Pep Guardiola has picked his Manchester City team to face Real Madrid with a strong start in mind. The Blues expect they will have to work hard for the duration of the game against a team dubbed the kings of the competition by Guardiola, with the bench expected to play an important part.

straight to your inbox Aymeric Laporte insists Manchester City will have to be at their best to beat Real Madrid in their Champions League last 16 second leg. City hold a 2-1 lead from the first leg win at the Bernabeu in February, and Real Madrid must score twice to stand any chance of going through to the quarter finals.

straight to your inbox Fernandinho has revealed that he has held conversations with Pep Guardiola over the possibility of the Manchester City manager taking charge of the Brazil national team. Guardiola has enjoyed untold success since he joined City in 2016, winning the Premier League twice, three Carabao Cups and the FA Cup.

straight to your inboxPep Guardiola made a triple change at half-time against Norwich to give more players the opportunity to impress as he continues to prepare for the Real Madrid game.Manchester City's final Premier League fixture of the season was still competitive, and the milestones clocked up by Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and Ederson during it will stand.However, the lack of importance given to the match was signalled earlier in the week when the manager chose to give his players a

straight to your inbox Pep Guardiola has warned his Manchester City players that any slackening-off against Norwich could cost them their place in the team to face Real Madrid. And the Blues boss has made it plain that he wants them to get the three goals needed to take them past the 100 goals for the second time in three years.Guardiola gave his squad two days off this week, but made it plain that was simply because neither they nor the Canaries have anything left to play for.

straight to your inbox Pep Guardiola raised hopes that Sergio Aguero will be fit to take on Real Madrid in the Champions League in two weeks. The Manchester City striker was expected to have to sit out the crunch game against the La Liga champions after suffering a knee injury that required surgery in Barcelona.

straight to your inboxPep Guardiola will be watching his Manchester City players train over the next few weeks to decide which of them are the most committed to take on Real Madrid.Real Madrid have taken a break after winning La Liga but the Blues will not put their feet up between their final Premier League game against Norwich on Sunday and the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie a fortnight later.Guardiola already fully knows what some players can bring to the team, and may well

straight to your inboxRaheem Sterling could yet claim the Premier League Golden Boot but even that wouldn't make him believe it has been his best year in the competition.The England international continued his progression at Manchester City against Watford on Tuesday with two goals that take him to 19 for the campaign - a personal best.

straight to your inboxPep Guardiola does not expect summer signings to be enough to make Manchester City more successful next season.Defeat in the FA Cup at Wembley on Saturday leaves the Blues with just the Carabao Cup and Community Shield in their trophy cabinet this year, having bagged an unprecedented domestic clean sweep in the previous campaign.

straight to your inboxRio Ferdinand has urged Manchester City not to worry ahead of their Champions League tie with Real Madrid.City were knocked out of the FA Cup with a shock 2-0 defeat to Arsenal in which they struggled to open their opponents up too much.It means City have just the Champions League left to play for this season having already won the Carabao Cup.City are set to face Real next month and lead 2-1 from the first leg back in February.Yet Real have won 10 out of 10 since football

straight to your inbox Pep Guardiola said he asked his Manchester City players to be more aggressive at half time of the defeat to Arsenal after being disappointed with their performance in the first 45 minutes.

straight to your inbox Pep Guardiola was left saddened by Manchester City's FA Cup defeat as he accused his players of not turning up for the first half. A 2-0 victory for Mikel Arteta's Arsenal ended a long unbeaten run for the Blues in domestic cups stretching back to February 2018 and leaves them with the Champions League as the only remaining trophy they can win this season.

straight to your inbox Ederson will start for Manchester City in Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal with Claudio Bravo out injured. The Chile international has played in previous rounds, in line with Pep Guardiola ’s practice of giving his second-string keepers valuable game time by playing them in the domestic cup competitions.