Now it’s time for Pep’s City to play like grown-ups

PEP GUARDIOLA must hope they do not one day talk in Manchester of the night his team scored four against Real Madrid and still didn’t make the final. That is the fear that stalks the Spaniard as his Manchester City team prepare for the return leg at the Bernabeu this evening.

On one hand, last week’s performance against the 13-time winners of the European Cup shows just how far City have travelled since Guardiola arrived at the club in 2016. In beating Real 4-3 at the Etihad, City were far more superior to their opponents than the scoreline suggested.

Equally, a game that saw Real outplayed for long periods but in which they still managed to score three times illustrates just how difficult things may be here tonight, especially if Carlo Ancelotti’s team are allowed to build any kind of momentum in front of their own fans.

This tie should effectively be over and Guardiola and his players know it. City conceded bad goals and, for all the brilliance and excitement of last week’s game, the last thing they really need is a repeat of the spectacle tonight.

If this evening’s game is allowed to become a shootout then it may just be that Real find themselves with the better gunslingers.

What Guardiola requires from his players here is a proper, grown-up European performance. City have a lead and it is almost inconceivable they will not score at least one goal, because they always do.

That being the case, Real would require three to progress. Is it too much to ask the Premier League leaders and champions to prevent that happening? It really should not be.

City can usually be expected to defend rather better than they did last week. Real’s second goal saw Brazilian Vinicius Junior run from his own half to score. Their third was from a penalty given away by a needless and soft handball.

Guardiola should not expect this to happen again. Tonight he will expect Real to have more of the ball than last week’s 40 per cent, but at the same time will wish them to have to work harder to score.

With John Stones not fit enough to travel, Guardiola can still expect to field a formidable back four, with the reliable Ruben Dias partnering Aymeric Laporte at its heart.

Ahead of them will be the equally sturdy holding player Rodri, once of Real’s crosstown rivals Atletico, and that should be enough of a platform from which City can see this tie through.

City only have to draw here tonight and have lost only twice in any competition since early December. That should encourage them, but what should also give them pause is that both those defeats came in rather haphazard, scattergun games — 3-2 on both occasions to Liverpool in the FA Cup and Tottenham in the Premier League.

It is exactly that kind of game they must avoid this evening. Last time they were in Madrid, just a matter of weeks ago, they held Atletico to a goalless draw to progress to this stage. It is the gumption and maturity they showed then that they need now.

And what of Ancelotti’s Real? They are certainly not the force they once were. Last week in Manchester, Toni Kroos and Luka Modric were virtual passengers. But they possess pace in the form of Vinicius Junior and an unpredictable genius in Karim Benzema.

Real also know they must play differently from last week. They can’t get away with a performance of such clumsiness again. They never had control of the rhythm and tempo of the contest at any stage, something that must have alarmed Ancelotti.

‘I think the approach in the first leg was the right one,’ said the ex-Chelsea and Everton manager, rather surprisingly. ‘We just need to bring more quality and pressurise them. We need to play a very thorough game.’

According to UEFA statistics, Real have conceded 95 shots in their last five Champions League games against City, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain. In the home game against Chelsea in the quarter-finals, they conceded an astonishing 28.

‘Maybe if we just played a low block, we wouldn’t concede all those shots,’ Ancelotti added. ‘But sometimes you have to risk something and we have.

‘In those games we’ve also scored a lot of goals — three against PSG, five against Chelsea, three against Manchester City.

‘Sometimes you have to take risks and we have the quality to do that.’

If Real really are prepared to draw City into another puncher’s contest, the response of the home team will probably be key.

While the world awaits another enthralling game, the feeling pervades that it would not be in City’s best interests.