“Real Madrid vs Manchester City is a modern Clasico,” former Real Madrid coach Jorge Valdano said last Tuesday, previewing the two clubs’ Champions League quarter-final first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu.
The match that followed did not disappoint. After that 3-3 draw in the Spanish capital last week, Madrid and City have now exchanged 23 goals in their past five meetings. Many commentators described the game as being worthy of a final and if anything it exceeded expectations — again.
This season is the third in a row that Madrid and City have met in the knockout stages of Europe’s elite club competition. In 2021-22, Madrid’s magical comeback in the semi-final second leg at the Bernabeu drove them into the final, where Liverpool were defeated 1-0. Last season, City produced a dominant home display to beat Carlo Ancelotti’s side 4-0 in the second leg before claiming their first Champions League title against Inter Milan.
The victors in the second leg in Manchester tonight (Wednesday) might well go on to lift the trophy once again — although a last-four tie against Arsenal or Bayern Munich, who also decide their quarter-final in Bavaria tonight, will need to be negotiated first.
In a season where Madrid have already beaten Barcelona twice, and in the context of their eight-point lead over their Clasico rivals at the top of La Liga, this game with City holds the key to transforming a good campaign into a spectacular one for Ancelotti’s group.
Madrid have long held European success in the highest possible regard, perhaps at times to the detriment of their domestic progress (for example, they have won the Copa del Rey, Spain’s equivalent of the FA Cup in England, just three times in the past 30 years). The story the club like to tell about themselves centres around this more than anything. On Saturday, Barcelona will visit the Bernabeu in La Liga. It is a big game — just not as big as what is on the line this evening at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester.
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But Valdano’s point was not to totally discount the history of Madrid’s rivalry with Barcelona, and in fact he believes the recent meetings with City have taken on a greater importance in part because of familiar connections.
“Clasicos are built on rivalry and (City’s manager and former Barcelona player and coach Pep) Guardiola is the favourite enemy of Madridismo (Madrid fans),” he says. “It was enough to hear the response from the fans at the Santiago Bernabeu last week, after the speaker announced his name over the PA system. He was the most whistled.
“But 10 years ago and five years ago, we were all talking about Barcelona-Madrid. Now the footballing importance leads us to talk about Madrid-City as the best in the world.
“It’s very good, because history is being renewed. City are getting to know glory, which is difficult without having a previous context. City are new and economically influenced. Madrid are new in any era. They can always adapt to hitch a ride.”
Guardiola usually gets a hostile reception at the Bernabeu (Angel Martinez/Getty Images)
Since Guardiola arrived in Manchester in summer 2016, the two teams have met a total of seven times (today’s game will be the eighth), with Madrid winning just one to City’s four.
In terms of European Cup/Champions League titles, Madrid have 14 — their first was in 1956 — while City’s sole success to date came last season. But these days, there is little doubt at Madrid over who their main rivals are for European success.
“Surely, in the last seven or eight years, Madrid and City were the two most successful teams,” said a dressing-room source — who, like others cited here, preferred to remain anonymous because they did not have permission to speak.
“It’s true that City only won it last year, but they came close to winning it many more times.”
Voices within the Madrid coaching staff see things in a similar way: “You only have to look at the statistics to see that, right now, we are the two best teams in the Champions League,” one such source said.
Vicente del Bosque, another former Madrid head coach and a World Cup-winning manager with Spain in 2010, agrees.
“I think both teams have dominated football in recent years and Madrid have maintained an extraordinary level,” Del Bosque says. “I remember 2022, with the 14th title and the comeback against City as the most spectacular.
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“City are one of the few teams that dominate Madrid with the ball, even though they have players to counter-attack. And Madrid look comfortable without the ball, taking advantage of transitions, even though they have players to control possession.
“Now there is a debate about the European Super League, I think playing these games as a knockout is better. I look at the sporting aspect, not the economic aspect, and it makes it more entertaining and more of a rivalry.
Madrid’s Champions League comeback in 2022 made for spectacular viewing (Angel Martinez/Getty Images)
“When I was a player, and also as a coach, the great opponent was Bayern Munich. The Netherlands, with Ajax, and Italy, with AC Milan, also had teams that rivalled us, but not so much any more. Now the range has opened up.”
For their part, sources on Madrid’s board agree that City are the team to beat. This is also due to the fact that, since the arrivals of Ferran Soriano as chief executive and Txiki Begiristain as sporting director (both, like Guardiola, formerly of Barcelona), City have grown as a club and earned the respect of Madrid, with whom they maintain a relationship of great admiration.
In this sense, Valdano dares to draw another parallel in the way both teams are structured centrally around one figure.
“Both at Madrid and at City, it is clear who is in charge,” he concludes.
“At Madrid, it’s (club president) Florentino Perez. At City, everybody knows it and nobody says it — but Guardiola won’t find he can work without a boss at any other club.”
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(Top photo: James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images)
