Jack Grealish says Manchester City will feel “unstoppable” when they host Real Madrid in a finely balanced second leg of their Champions League semi-final next Wednesday.
Kevin De Bruyne’s second-half effort canceled out Venezius Junior’s opener for 14-time winners Real, who held City to a 1-1 draw at the Bernabeu on Tuesday.
Real scored twice in extra time before securing a dramatic victory against City in Spain at the same stage of the final period.
“We’ve learned a lot from last year,” Grealish told BT Sport.
“We have a new team this year, different players. It was a year ago. We have a great balance of experience and world-class youth. I’ve never felt so confident going out on the pitch with players around me. “What?”
City were two goals ahead on aggregate in the 90th minute of the second leg of the final term against Real but fell in spectacular fashion.
Rodrigo scored twice in extra time and Karim Benzema converted a penalty in extra time to see the Spanish side lead 6-5 on aggregate.
However, with this year’s tie set to end on City’s home turf, where they have won 14 matches in a row by a combined score of 49-7, the odds feel strongly in favor of Pep Guardiola’s treble-chasing side. are
“At the United, we feel unstoppable,” City forward Grealish added.
“We came here to try to win, but it shows our character to go a goal down in a place like this. In the end I think it was a fair result. They had their chances, we did. There were some.”
‘We are good enough to win finals’
However, in the opposing camp, Real’s goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois says that the defending champions cannot be discounted.
They have already beaten Liverpool and Chelsea away from home in this season’s competition.
“Next week will be like the final, and we are good enough to win the final,” said the Belgian. “Hopefully we can keep it that way even though it’s in the city and it’s going to be tough for us.”
City’s previous European knockout ties, both ending in 1-1 away draws in the first leg, saw them progress to the next round.
Meanwhile, Real have progressed from only two of their nine Champions League knockout stage ties when they failed to win the first leg at home – both against Manchester United (1999-00 and 2012-13). .
