“100 per cent, always!” – Manchester City stars manifesting Real Madrid comeback after first leg humbling | OneFootball

Members of Manchester City’s first-team squad are dreaming of a miracle when they take on Real Madrid in the return leg of their UEFA Champions League Round of 16 tie next week.

City’s hopes of progressing to the quarter-final were handed a brutal reality check as a 22-minute Federico Valverde hat-trick left Pep Guardiola and co stunned and short of any reply to the storm that Real Madrid brought to the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday night.

Gianluigi Donnarumma‘s penalty save from Vinicius Jr. on the hour mark has kept the Blues in the tie, barely, as Manchester City look to pull off the improbable in the second leg at the Etihad Stadium in a week’s time.

However, a lot has to change before the return leg and Manchester City will need to go all out in their upcoming Premier League meeting with West Ham to regain confidence to vie for a comeback against Real Madrid.

Is there belief within Manchester City’s dressing room over a comeback at the Etihad Stadium?

In the aftermath of City’s embarrassing 3-0 defeat to Real Madrid on Wednesday night, DAZN Football have relayed comments from a number of Guardiola’s players citing their belief over a turnaround back in Manchester.

Rodri said: “Always.” Phil Foden said: “Yes, of course I do.” Antoine Semenyo said: “Maybe – yes, I do.” John Stones said: “100 percent.” Bernardo Silva said: “Yes, always,” as several members of the first-team squad sent a rallying call to their teammates to bounce back stronger than ever at the Etihad Stadium.

Furthermore, in an exchange with former Manchester City and England goalkeeper Joe Hart after full-time in Spanish capital, Gianluigi Donnarumma indicated his own faith in the Blues having it in them to climb the mountain they have set for themselves at home.

As captured by TNT Sports, Donnarumma said: “Let’s go, it’s not over, let’s go!” as Manchester City regroup, dissect their disastrous display at the Santiago Bernabeu and look to return to winning ways against West Ham at the weekend before a monumental face-off with Los Blancos in England.

How did Jeremy Doku assess Manchester City’s chances of reaching the UEFA Champions League quarter-final?

In conversation with reporters in the media mixed-zone at the Santiago Bernabeu, Jeremy Doku said: “It’d be crazy if I said there was no chance (of coming back against Real Madrid). Obviously, they are a massive team but they scored three against us, so why can’t we?

“At the Etihad (Stadium), we’ll need our fans to put pressure (on them). Everything is possible so we still believe. If they (the fans) are with us, it’s a completely different game. We really need them to push us and put pressure on them, hear them because maybe they don’t know but it has a lot of influence on us. We trust they will be there for us and cheer us on.”

Doku gave a peak through the curtain into Guardiola’s message to his players at half-time after Valverde’s treble put the game to the bed by the interval.

The Belgium international added: “He (Guardiola) knows we’re disappointed. He said there’s still 95 minutes to play and we can’t put heads down. Continue to play how we play and at the Etihad it’s a different game.

“In those types of games, you need to score the chances we have. Otherwise, when they have a chance they score and that’s what happened. They were just waiting for us to make mistakes. They are a good transition team and scored three goals so fair play.”

Guardiola has a huge selection dilemma for the return leg in Manchester and much will ride on how the Blues fare against West Ham at the London Stadium at the weekend.