Why Pep Guardiola has cancelled Manchester City training ahead of Real Madrid return leg | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has handed his players a day off ahead of Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League Round of 16 return leg against Real Madrid.

The Blues are eyeing a miracle at the Etihad Stadium as they look to overturn a three goal deficit from last week’s 3-0 mauling at the Santiago Bernabeu, with Federico Valverde having the game of his career and scoring a sensational 22-minute hat-trick in the first-half.

City’s slim hopes of a fifth Premier League title in six seasons were handed another major blow at the weekend as they dropped two points in a 1-1 draw at West Ham, allowing Arsenal to extend their lead at the top of the table to nine points.

Remontada will be word on everyone’s lips at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night as City – who have won once in their last four games in all competitions – try to pull off one of the greatest European comebacks and revitalise their season ahead of Sunday’s Carabao Cup final against Arsenal.

How Manchester City have prepared for Tuesday’s Round of 16 return leg against Real Madrid

Guardiola has decided to give his players a day off on Monday to rest and recover ahead of a monumental face-off with Alvaro Arbeloa’s side tomorrow night.

The Blues are in deep end of a strenuous schedule amid their quest of an unprecedented quadruple, having travelled to and back from London over the weekend as they switched attention to the title race.

Simon Bajkowski of the Manchester Evening News reported ahead of Guardiola’s press conference on Monday afternoon that the 55-year-old had canceled training to give his players the day off on Monday.

Asked to explain his decision by the press, Guardiola said: “We’ll train tomorrow (before the game),” and adding that training on the day of a game is something Manchester City have done previously against Borussia Dortmund and Fulham this season.

“In Madrid, we arrived late (back) in the hotel, sleep, come back (to Manchester) in the morning, travelling here, day after no training, go to London (to face West Ham), arrived (back) yesterday at 2:30am. So today, you cannot do anything.”

What has Pep Guardiola said ahead of Manchester City vs Real Madrid?

Quizzed on his game-plan for Tuesday night, Guardiola added: “I don’t have a specific plan (against Real Madrid), apart from just trying. It’s an incredible opportunity to try it.”

The Catalan doubled down on the fact that Manchester City need a perfect performance in the second leg to stand any chance of progressing to the quarter-final.

“I’m not much concerned about the chances we’re going to create, I’m pretty sure we’re able to do it at home. It’s more how well we’re going to defend. The task is massive; to score more than three goals against Madrid is not easy,” he said.

“It’s easy for me (to say), ‘Guys in the first 20 minutes (against Real Madrid), we have to score three goals!’. Yeah, perfect, good message. But the reality is completely different. Just be sustainable in our approach and how we want to do it.”

Manchester City must produce one of their greatest-ever displays under Guardiola to manage a comeback against a Real Madrid side whose threat on the counter has left the Blues needing a mountain to climb at home.