Pep Guardiola reveals 'lie' he told about blockbuster Real Madrid second leg | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola cheekily admitted that he "lied" about Manchester City having a 1% chance of overturning their Champions League knockout round play-off tie with Real Madrid, but is aware his side have to be "almost perfect" to get through.

The reigning Premier League champions, who won the Champions League in 2023 thanks to Rodri's winning goal against Inter, head to the Santiago Bernabeu trailing 3-2 after a dramatic late collapse at the Etihad Stadium.

Erling Haaland's brace had put City in a strong position against the 15-time winners, but goals from Brahim Diaz and Jude Bellingham turned the tide in favour of Madrid.

Guardiola previously rated City's chances of advancing as "minimal" and "at 1%", but the Spaniard adopted a different tone when speaking to the media on Tuesday.

"We have to make it almost the perfect game," he said. "We have to attack. We have to score goals. This is the idea.

"We must play with courage. We must be ourselves. It will need incredible courage and we must play to win. We could still lose, but we have to show that courage and be ourselves. We have to play so well, especially after the result we took away in the first leg.

Pep Guardiola knows his side face an uphill task to beat Carlo Ancelotti's Real Madrid / Crystal Pix/MB Media/GettyImages

"We have to change a lot. I lied to you, and you didn't believe me. I said because we were out and nobody would have bet a penny on us. But as the days pass, the enthusiasm returns. We will try to go through. Carlo won't need to say anything to me pre-game. We have to fix certain things but we will attack and at least try to give them a fright, then see what happens."

Seeing off Real Madrid, both at the Bernabeu and in European competition, is not something that is alien to Guardiola. City won their two-legged semi-final in 2023 by an aggregate score of 5-1, while he enjoyed some big wins in the Spanish capital during his time at Barcelona.

"I have some incredible memories here - sometimes good ones, sometimes not so good," he added.

"We know at this stage, and in this stadium, the pressure is there - but you get that in Milan, in Barcelona, at Anfield. You have to suffer at these places, but you have to reduce those moments."