10-time champions Real will hope to reclaim the Champions League trophy that they conceded last season to Barcelona, having won the famous La Decima in the 2013/14 final against city rivals Atletico.
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City were also struggling in the first leg of their quarter-final-against Paris Saint-Germain-and were 2-1 down until Fernandinho’s equaliser changed the complexion of the tie ahead of the return at the Etihad Stadium.
City will be at home in the first leg before heading to the Bernabeu a week later.
Manuel Pellegrini’s last run as Manchester City manager has seen them to the club’s first-ever semifinal, after being booted out of Champions League by Barcelona in each of the past three seasons.
Real’s strikeforce of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema will be confident of puncturing City’s often shaky defence.
Two years ago, Atletico led 1-0 in stoppage time before Real Madrid leveled and went on to win 4-1 in extra time.
Atletico Madrid general manager Clemente Villaverde has spoken of his excitement at the upcoming Champions League semi-final between his Spanish club and Bayern Munich.
The draw also keeps alive the prospect of Guardiola coming up against Man City in the final, with the coach taking over from Pellegrini at the Premier League club on July 1.
First legs are on April 26-27 and second legs on May 3-4.
City face a tough ask to reach the final though as with Ronaldo in top form, Madrid’s attack looks capable of causing any team problems. “We know that, in order to continue we have to play well against all teams”, he stressed. “They were a team that made a big investment in me and they still don’t have that title”.
Title holders Sevilla will face Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk, who eliminated Schalke earlier in the competition, in the other semifinal.
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Reflecting on his time at Real, which saw him sacked after a solitary season, despite amassing a then record of 96 points for La Liga runners-up, Pellegrini said: “In that moment that we were in a very hard season, it was very unlucky to lose that league with 96 points and 102 or 103 goals”. Real won 3-2 goal at Santiago Bernabeu.
