Man City manager Pep Guardiola: I don't fear Real Madrid, but I respect them

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola insists he has no fear going into Wednesday's Champions League quarter-final decider against Real Madrid at the Etihad Stadium

The first leg in Spain ended in a rollercoaster 3-3 draw despite the reigning champions leading the match 1-0 and then 3-2 before a superb Federico Valverde strike earned Real a share of the spoils.

At the weekend, City demolished Luton Town 5-1 to take over at the top of the Premier League while Real battled to a 1-0 victory at Mallorca to maintain their eight-point lead over Barcelona at the summit of La Liga.

Catalan-born Guardiola spent most of his playing career at Real's fierce rivals as well as enjoying a hugely successful four-year spell as manager at Camp Nou.

Now he goes head-to-head with Los Blancos again, having demolished Carlo Ancelotti's side 5-1 on aggregate in the semi-finals of last year's competition that ended with City lifting the trophy for the first time in the club's history.

And Guardiola says taking on the 14-time European champions is not something that gives him sleepless nights.

“No I don't fear them,” said the former Bayern Munich coach, who played nearly 400 games in Barcelona's midfield. “But I respect them a lot. I have faced them many times.

“I'm not going to talk great things about them, and give you my opinion. I respect Real Madrid. And if I say I'm scared of them, I would be false.

“There's the rivalry. You want to beat them, and do well, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. I want us to do as well as we can. Be ourselves. If we can't be, it doesn't matter.

“But I'm not scared of them and if they beat me – as happened many times – we will say congratulations and wish them well.”

On the domestic front, last weekend