Carlo Ancelotti to quiz Pep Guardiola over comments made ahead of Real Madrid showdown with Manchester City | OneFootball

Real Madrid’s Carlo Ancelotti has admitted a desire to quiz Pep Guardiola on comments made over Manchester City’s chances of victory at the Santiago Bernabeu this week.

The Premier League champions travelled to the Spanish capital on Tuesday evening ahead of a crunch meeting with the La Liga giants 24 hours later knowing that they have a deficit to overturn from the first-leg.

Erling Haaland managed to notch a brace against Real Madrid at the Etihad Stadium last Tuesday including a strike from the penalty spot, but saw his efforts squandered by late goals from Brahim Diaz and Jude Bellingham to record a 2-3 away win for Los Blancos.

Not many are giving Manchester City any hope of progressing into the last-16 stage of the competition as a result, largely as a result of their inconsistent and concerning form across competitions throughout the season so far.

In fact, speaking after City’s 4-0 win over Newcastle at the weekend, manager Pep Guardiola gave his side just a one per cent chance of progressing beyond Real Madrid and knocking the Spanish side out of the competition with a win margin of two goals or more on Wednesday.

However, speaking during his own pre-match press conference ahead of Real Madrid’s meeting with City in the Spanish capital, Carlo Ancelotti was made aware of Pep Guardiola’s claims that his side have a one per cent chance of victory in the tie.

“Tomorrow before the game, I’ll ask him if he really thinks that they have a one per cent chance! We don’t think we have a 99 per cent chance,” Ancelotti told reporters on Tuesday morning.

The Real Madrid boss continued, “We think we have a small advantage that we have to make the most of.”

Pep Guardiola has since suggested that his claims were an exaggeration, but would go on to tell a TV broadcaster that his side have even less than a one per cent chance of progression despite encouragement being taken from the weekend’s victory.

Manchester City – should they progress beyond Real Madrid – would then be faced with a two-legged last-16 clash against either Bayer Leverkusen or Atletico Madrid, further testing a weakened outfit to its maximum this season.