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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Simon Bajkowski

Pep Guardiola indicates Man City decision on Champions League plan

Pep Guardiola suggested Manchester City are willing to play their Champions League game with Real Madrid away from the Etihad.

The Blues won 2-1 at the Bernabeu to carry a lead into their second leg of the last-16 clash that would ordinarily have been played in Manchester.

However, these are no ordinary times. The game in March was postponed when the Real Madrid squad were forced to self-isolate and the chaos caused to the fixture schedule by the pandemic means it will not be played before August.

When it is rearranged, City may have to cede home advantage. UEFA have confirmed plans to hold a mini-tournament in one country - Portugal for the Champions League and Germany for the Europa League - in order to reduce potential risk and there is the possibility that the outstanding last-16 ties could also be moved there.

Guardiola would rather not lose home advantage, but is understanding of the situation football authorities are in.

"We are going to adapt to what Uefa says, it’s an extraordinary situation right now, all around the world, not just in football," he said.

"When the Premier League said we have do it, we do it. If Uefa says we are going to play away for health and security reasons, we are going to follow their instructions.

"We’d love to play at the Etihad Stadium, that’s normal, but I think Uefa decide to move it to one country because it’s better for the health and security of our players, the Madrid players, staff and all of us then we’ll adapt to what Uefa say."

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