Guardiola draws line under Real Madrid boycott row

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Guardiola draws line under Real Madrid boycott row

Pep Guardiola has said there was no bad blood between Manchester City and Real Madrid after the Spanish giants boycotted last year’s Ballon d’Or awards in an apparent protest.

Real did not attend the gala ceremony in Paris in October when City midfielder Rodri was voted the best player in the world ahead of Brazil and Real forward Vinicius Junior.

The City manager has drawn a line under the controversy ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League play-off between the rivals.

Asked if there were any hard feelings over Real’s boycott, he said: “Absolutely not.

“Vinicius make an extraordinary year as well (as Rodri). He deserves it. Like in the past when (Lionel) Messi and Cristiano (Ronaldo) was fighting for that. The subject is over.”

City defender Ruben Dias also avoided heightening tensions ahead of the first leg at the Etihad Stadium.

“Being very honest with you, I didn’t spend one second thinking about if it was disrespectful or not. I was happy with Rodri. I was there. I was, I celebrated with him that night,” he said.

The rivalry between City and Real has become one of the fiercest in the Champions League in recent years.

This is the fourth season in a row that the two teams have gone head-to-head, with the winner on the last three occasions going on to lift the trophy.

Real, the reigning champions, have added Kylian Mbappe to an already star-studded attack this season and the French World Cup winner has scored nine goals in his last eight games.

Guardiola admitted it was unrealistic to expect City to be able to nullify Madrid’s attacking threat, which also includes Jude Bellingham, Rodrygo and Endrick.

“I think it’s impossible for 90 minutes, 180 minutes or 200 minutes – it depends on extra time – to control these four players,” he said. “They are exceptional.”

Real and 2023 champions City are only meeting now because they made such hard work of the competition’s new-look format. City went into the final round of games in the 36-team league phase needing to win just to secure the lifeline of a play-off.

l finished 11th, with the top eight automatically advancing to the round of 16.

“This season we struggled a lot,” Guardiola said. “Of course it would be good to continue for the club, for the prestige to win this competition.”

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