Back again. Back to the Bernabeu’s whistles. Back to that lingering fear of goals coming from nowhere. Pep Guardiola back to sporting a helmet and arm guard in the cream leather seat of Real Madrid’s press auditorium.
A seventh visit to Spain’s capital since 2019. Or alternatively, a first since December. A cathedral to have hosted a couple of the more satisfying nights of Manchester City’s recent history and certainly one of the lowest.
Three months ago, Guardiola wanted more from a young team that had recorded only the club’s second win away at Real. ‘We have been here in the past playing much better, and we lost,’ he said after a 2-1 victory.
‘I can’t fault the players for effort, for soul or for heart, but we have to do more. That level is not high enough to compete until the latter stages but maybe March we will be better.’
And he was right. While a classic Guardiola ploy – big positive result countered with only faint praise, bordering on criticism – this was a realistic summary of the performance. And he recognised the need for experiencing that atmosphere, that intensity of a game, even if Real were wounded and the manager heading for the exit.
Five City players had not featured away in what some dub the European Clasico before. There should be three more on Wednesday night in Marc Guehi, Antoine Semenyo and Rayan Ait-Nouri. Eight new faces in what is effectively an annual fixture indicates what a huge turnover City have undergone. Add to that the four newbies when they folded in this stadium last February, losing 3-1 and never, ever in the tie. Twelve in 12 months.
Erling Haaland scores a penalty just before half-time as City won 2-1 in Madrid in December
The only new signing who started both the February defeat and December’s win is a good case study of what experiencing these unique surroundings can do. Nico Gonzalez was a lost soul last year: no help, overrun. Fast-forward nine months and he manfully held together the midfield when again not offered a major amount of assistance.
‘I’m super proud of him,’ Josko Gvardiol said that night. ‘He’s young, but to be honest with you, two days ago I was thinking that when I see him playing next to me, I feel like he’s 30.’
That is marked and evident progression. Although second fiddle now Rodri is nudging himself close to his best, Gonzalez is better for that experience in February. And there are key examples of individuals who learned from past mistakes, or misfortune, to flourish when they climbed those blue carpeted steps for future battles.
Kyle Walker is a real example of learning, from the rousing comeback victory in 2020, just before the pandemic hit. Real’s goal on the hour, scored by Isco, came directly from Walker’s failure to deal with Vinicius Junior and cut off the danger at source.
Antoine Semenyo has scored seven goals since joining in January and now faces his biggest test so far
When City went back two years later, an obviously unfit Walker – who had been missing for a month but soldiered on to make himself available – pocketed Vinicius for 72 minutes before having to come off.
Joao Cancelo took up the right-back slot, caught sleeping in the build-up to Rodrygo’s 90th-minute header, and the rest is history on one of the Champions League’s iconic nights.
It ought to have been a consolation but City capitulated, Ruben Dias not tight enough when Rodrygo powered an equaliser and then too tight in extra time when felling Karim Benzema for the winning penalty. Goals on 90, 90 and 95.
The dressing room was in a state of paralysis late into the evening, City out in the semi-finals when they should have made consecutive finals. So quiet, disconsolate to the degree that nobody could even bring themselves to even shower and the squad left the Bernabeu significantly slower than normal.
Jack Grealish had missed two fine chances in the dying moments, when City were still leading. Ferland Mendy and Thibaut Courtois denied him when twice clean through and he was particularly distraught afterwards.
Cancelo wasn’t around when City went back in May 2023 but Dias and Grealish were. Walker, too.
All three were superb. Underneath his own crossbar, Dias scrambled to prevent Benzema tapping home after a Rodri mistake.
Grealish slowed the game down in allowing City to manoeuvre themselves into a position for Kevin De Bruyne to launch a rocket of an equaliser. Grealish would also prove pivotal in the 3-3 draw in 2024 as well.
This is the proof of Guardiola’s talk about living experiences. Three pillars of the Treble team all had their unsettling moments in the heat of the Bernabeu, where minds frazzle, and leant on those feelings and ultimately overcame them.
‘I understand in this stadium, with this opponent,’ Guardiola added in December. ‘It was good to score a goal (the winner) because it helps us a little bit to be there. It will be a good lesson for the future.
‘Winning in the Bernabeu is a really, really big task but to get to the semi-finals requires a better performance. We will work on it. It’s not enough.’
Wednesday is a test of what they truly took from the last trip.
