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What Did Guardiola Do Before the Real Madrid (ESP) vs Manchester City (ENG) Match?

Manchester City (ENG) needs to beat Real Madrid (ESP) this Tuesday (17th) by at least three goals to take the decision to extra time. Despite this, on Monday (16th), on the eve of the Champions League match, Pep Guardiola gave the players a day off.

Pep Guardiola's decision surprised fans and journalists who are eagerly awaiting the clash, since it is rare for players to get a day off 24 hours before a match. At Flamengo, for example, players now train even hours before a night game in Rio de Janeiro.

Why Did Guardiola Give the Players a Day Off?

In a press conference on Monday (16th), Pep Guardiola explained why he gave the Manchester City squad a day off. According to the coach, the players haven't had much time to rest in recent days.

— In Madrid, we arrived late at the hotel, slept, went back to Manchester in the morning, traveled here, there was no training the next day, we went to London and arrived yesterday at 2:30 a.m. So today we have to recover, there’s nothing we can do. The players will go home and we’ll train tomorrow, he said.

What Is the Situation in the Knockout Stage?

Real Madrid won the first leg 3-0 at the Santiago Bernabéu. This means Vini Jr’s team can lose by up to two goals and still qualify for the next round. A 3-0 defeat would take the decision to extra time.

What Time Is the Real Madrid vs Manchester City Match?

The Real Madrid match against Manchester City is scheduled for 5 p.m. (Brasília time), at the Etihad Stadium, for the second leg of the Champions League round of 16. The match will be broadcast on HBO Max (streaming) and TNT Sports (cable channel).

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.