This archive report was first published on 6 August 2020.
Manchester City are set to face Real Madrid in their postponed Champions League match on Friday, with manager Pep Guardiola expressing confidence in his team's ability to take on the 13-time champions.
City host Zinedine Zidane's team in the second leg of their last-16 tie, leading 2-1 after their win in the Bernabeu in February.
Guardiola's side lost their Premier League crown to Liverpool but have a chance to finish the coronavirus-interrupted season by becoming European champions for the first time.
"We want to play our own game," Guardiola said at his pre-match press conference on Thursday. "We want to impose our own style on the game, whether we're defending or playing on the counter-attack or whether Madrid are countering."
Guardiola warned that it was vital for his side to cut out the defensive mistakes that have hurt his side this season, saying: "More than conceding the goals, it's the way that we conceded the goals. When they are brilliant and make a good action we have to accept it. But for most of them it was goals that could have been avoided. We have to avoid it."
Midfielder Rodri said the mood in the camp was good and he felt City were the better team, but believes playing Real presents unique challenges.
Guardiola also revealed that defender Eric Garcia has turned down the offer of a contract extension at the Etihad Stadium, with the highly rated 19-year-old centre-back linked with a return to his boyhood club Barcelona.
