Madrid, April 14 Atletico Madrid’s Brazilian defender Filipe Luis hopes that they rather not draw crosstown rivals Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals.
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It was a stunner in the Champions League as Atletico Madrid knocked out the defending champions FC Barcelona with a scoreline of 2-0 to win 3-2 on aggregate and advance to the semi-finals.
Guardiola could set up a May showdown against his new employers, if his Bayern Munich team can get the better of Atletico Madrid in the other semifinal tie.
Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck equalised with the last kick and in the replay just two days later the Germans won 4-0.
Bayern manager Pep Guardiola misses what would have been a hard semifinal for him against City, the Premier League side he will take charge of next season.
Emilio Butragueno says Real Madrid can not afford to underestimate Manchester City in the semi-finals of the Champions League after stumbling at the penultimate hurdle last season.
The two teams also met in July past year in pre-season in the International Champions Cup in Melbourne with Real Madrid winning 4-1. English teams have won the competition ahead of the last two European Championships, 2008 it was Manchester United and in 2012 it was Chelsea.
While Bayern dumped out Benfica, Real Madrid fought back to oust Wolfsburg, as Manchester City ease past Paris Saint Germain in the quarter finals of the competition.
The first leg of the tie will be at City’s home ground, Etihad Stadium, with the second leg away at the Santiago Bernabeu in the Spanish capital. “We deserve it”, Griezmann said.
Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini managed opponents Real Madrid in 2009-10.
As with the Champions League the only place to watch the semi-finals and final from St. Jakob-Park will be live on BT Sport.
The first leg will be played in Villarreal on April 28, with The Yellow Submarine heading to Merseyside for the return leg on May 5.
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That means that 67% of teams who played at home in the first leg made it to the final.
