Man City boss Pep Guardiola reveals 'secret' behind his brilliant record vs Real Madrid

Pep Guardiola says his brilliant career record against Real Madrid is entirely down to the quality of the players he's had at his disposal. The Catalan coach has won 11 and lost just four of his 19 meetings with the Spanish giants, in his reigns at Barcelona, Bayern Munich and now with Manchester City.

That includes home and away victories in City’s last two meetings with Real, in the last 16 two years ago, when they followed a 2-1 win at the Bernabeu with a victory by the same scoreline in the delayed return. But Guardiola says he does not have any special formula for putting one over Real — and that it is entirely down to the players he has been able to field.

“I’ve lost and won against them, you play hundreds of times against a rival, you win and lose and none of that comes into it,” he said. “The talent they have, the only way to beat them is to be better. I have played many times but don’t get any sense when I beat them. It belongs to the players, not something I can be especially pleased with.”

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Guardiola is said to have spent hours watching videos of Real after the first leg in 2020, to give his team every advantage to progress. But he said the biggest lesson he learned is that the Spanish side never know when they are beaten, and never hide when things are going badly.

“There are many players from that period who were good. It was very close last time, a few details, I don’t think we were much better, small details made the difference.

“What I’ve seen recently they have players who can make such an impact, and when they are 3-0 down you see players who get their head up and say ‘Here I am’. That’s the best thing you can say about them — if things