Pep Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti Reacts To Tricky UCL Quarterfinal Tie

It will be a cracker as Real Madrid trade tackles Manchester City for a place in the last four of the 2023/24 Champions League.

In what will be a rematch of the 2022/23 semifinal, the two European giants were paired against each other in the 2023/24 Champions League quarterfinal draw.

It promises to be an engaging encounter with a lot at stake between the two clubs. Real Madrid is the biggest club in Europe with an unmatched and unrivaled success.

Manchester City is an emerging European football powerhouse gradually writing their name into Europe’s history books.

The Los Blancos will hope to harvest their pound of flesh after losing the 2022/23 semifinal to the Premier League giants while City will push to assert their dominance on the European scene.

It will be affirmed ehether the balance of power in the round leather game in Europe has shifted Madrid or Etihad after the fixture.

Away from the teams, the fixture will pit two of the best managers in European football against each other. Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti is regarded as the best and the most experienced hand in the game after returning to Madrid to win his second Champions League trophy with Real Madrid in 2022.

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He has also won Champions League trophies with AC Milan. Pep Guardiola, known for his polished tiki-taka style of play, is also a genius with Champions League trophies with Barcelona and Manchester City.

Guardiola outran Carlo Ancelotti on the tactical chessboard when he led Manchester City to pummel the 14-time Champions League winners 4-0 at Etihad in the 2022/23 Champions League semifinal return leg.

The stage is set again for the duo to exercise their tactical acumen before acing through to the last four of the tournament.

Pep Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti reacts to UCL Quarterfinal draw

With immense respect for his opponent, Guardiola described Real Madrid as the kings of the competition, adding that he hopes to scale through the tough tie.

“It looks like a little bit of a tradition, three years in a row playing the kings of the competition,” said City manager Guardiola following Friday’s draw.

“Hopefully we can arrive in a good moment but there are still a few weeks before the first game in Madrid,” he said.

Ancelotti described Manchester City as one of the best and said it would be tough but a necessity to dispatch the star-studded side if one wanted to be the best in Europe.

“The idea is to win the competition, and for that, you have to beat the best. City may be one of the best in Europe at the moment, but it will be tough, of course. But if you want to be European champions, you have to eliminate City.”

The first leg of the quarterfinal matches will be played on April 9 and 10 while the second leg will be played on April 16 and 17.