Semi-finals, here we go
Pep Guardiola will face off again with Real Madrid in the Champions League semi finals, as happened in 2011, 2014 and 2022 and in the 2020 round of 16 . If in the first he eliminated the whites by winning at the Bernabéu (0-2, goals from Messi), in the two subsequent ones he was outclassed by the whites: in 2014 he was thrashed at the Allianz Arena in Munich (0-4), while that last year was surpassed in the last minutes of the game with two goals from Rodrygo that forced an extra time, where Benzema sentenced the citizen team with a penalty goal.
Difficult times for Los Merengues
Guardiola is a coach who has always made it difficult for the white team. Since his debut as manager in the Barcelona first team, passing through Bayern and ending up at City, his record against the whites is good: he has faced the madridistas on 21 occasions, with 12 wins (57.15% of the total), four draws (19.04%) and have lost five times (the remaining 23.81%). It has been with Barcelona with the team that has faced the whites the most times. He has done so in 15 games in four competitions: eight in the League, two in the Champions League, three in the Cup and two in the Spanish Super Cup. And their record couldn’t be better, with nine wins (historical are their 2-6 victories at the Bernabéu and 5-0 at the Camp Nou), the four draws on their record, and only two defeats: the first was in the 2011 Cup final, when Cristiano headed into Pinto’s goal. The second meant sealing the League title for the 2011-12 campaign. The whites won again with a goal from the Portuguese. Even so, the goalscoring balance of Guardiola’s men was 33 goals for and 15 against.