Pep Guardiola has paid Real Madrid a major compliment ahead of their UEFA Champions League reunion next month.
Manchester City and Real Madrid have become firm rivals in recent years and a quarter final match up in 2024 is their third successive meeting in the competition.
Carlo Ancelotti’s team famously secured a 6-5 aggregate victory in the 2022 semi final, before going on to win the final in Kyiv.
However. Guardiola bounced back to knockout out Ancelotti’s Madrid at the same stage last season, before lifting his first European trophy as City boss.
There was a sense of inevitability over the draw, with Bayern Munich or Arsenal waiting in the last four for the winners, and Guardiola hailed Real Madrid’s iconic Champions League pedigree.
“It’s like a little bit of tradition, three years in a row against Real Madrid!”, as per quotes from BBC Sport.
“We are up against the kings of the competition and we hope to arrive into those games in a good moment.”
Guardiola insisted he is focused is on the games incoming for City, either side of the international break, starting with an FA Cup quarter final against Newcastle United this weekend.
The defending Premier League champions then return from the break with a title battle against leaders Arsenal before Real Madrid come into focus in April.
