Two years on, he is preparing Madrid for today’s Champions League semi-final first leg away to Manchester City and from what he has seen in the changing room, he believes an 11th European crown may not be far away. For the very first time in the clubs history, they have reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, and they would surely want to go all the way and win the league itself.
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“We have great players in the team of course and when we talk about the maturity of the club at this level, the players are all players who can play at that level”, he told reporters at the City Football Academy in Manchester.
“Those are the two important things for us for being in the game because at the Bernabeu we’re very strong at home and we fancy our chances”.
“To play in the semi-final is in itself something really good but you want to go to the next stage now”. Yaya Toure and Fernando both picked up ailments in the Premier League game, but they should be ready to play in tomorrow’s Champions League match against Real Madrid.
“It is very important to have a hot heart but a cold mind”.
“People mention 14 injuries to my calf and I mention 14 times I have come back and played football like I have never been away”.
“We have great players in the team, the players in the team can all play at this level, there wasn’t a day in my life where I thought that this kind of occasions are hard or stressful, we want to play for these games”. We need our emotions under control.
Man City has been good in the league this season as they have won 19, drew seven and lost nine, scoring 66 goals, the most by any team in the premier league and conceding 34.
“It’s a great achievement for the club to be in the last four of the tournament but it would be a dream to get to the final so we’re really hoping for that”.
Former Tottenham star Bale said: “If anything I’m surprised they haven’t got here earlier”.
“They’ve obviously progressed over the years”. The idea is they will play. I have never seen a Manchester City team not turn up when the fans are up for it.
Zinedine Zidane’s squad arrive with injury concerns regarding Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema.
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Gareth Bale issues revealing update on Ronaldo relationship ahead of Man City v. “What we have to do tomorrow is stop that happening and stop them hurting us in those areas”. While City’s recent form has been on the rise, if a little late to stop the Premier League’s fairytale title hunters Leicester City, Real have been nearly unstoppable of late as they try and chase down Barcelona in La Liga.
