Credit: Twitter
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City slaughtered Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League 2022-23 semi-final as they beat them 5-1 over two legs. The manager admitted that revenge fuelled his passion to beat Los Blancos, who defeated them 6-5 at the same stage last year, and that this win has filled those wounds.
After playing a 1-1 draw at the Santiago Bernabeu, Pep Guardiola's men ran riots in front of the home crowd and scored four goals against the Whites, who failed to score a single goal at the Etihad Stadium. The City started the game with a dominating first half where the ball was rarely seen in Real Madrid's possession.
At the same stage last year Real overturned a 4-3 defeat in the first leg with a remarkable late comeback in the second leg before winning the final. The former-Barcelona coach expressed his hunger to beat Madrid after the draws, and in the post-match conference Guardiola said, "When the draw was Madrid, I said, 'Yeah, I want it’."
The 52-year-old Spanish coach continued and praised his squad for their calmness in the lead-up to the all-important semifinal. The Spanish coach said, "I had the feeling that we had one year ago in our stomach of what happened last season. I had the feeling these last days that we had a mix of calm and tension to play these types of games. Today everything went out of what we had - it was so painful last season. But during one year we showed how special a group of players these are."
Pep Guardiola texted Rio Ferdinand, 'Believe me, we'll beat them again'
Former Manchester United player Rio Ferdinand has revealed that Pep Guardiola expressed his confidence as he sent a text that City will comfortably beat the Los Blancos. Ferdinand told BT Sport after the full-time whistle, "He texted me, Pep Guardiola text me before the game, He said: Believe me, we beat them two years ago. We'll beat them again. Believe."
The first leg between Madrid and City was equally matched at the Bernabeu as it finished 1-1. Manchester City completely dominated the second leg at the Etihad Stadium as they beat Ancelloti’s men 4-0 with Bernardo Silva scoring a brace. Guardiola maintained his stellar record against Madrid as he now has 13 wins in 23 games against them with just five losses. Manchester City will face Inter Milan in the finals of the UEFA Champions League in Istanbul on June 11.
