Manchester City defender Manuel Akanji has prevented himself from having the opponents of the Premier League champions dedicated after he has received a do-or-die-euro confrontation with Real Madrid.
City kept their Champions League dream alive on Nervy Fashion, from behind to beat Club Brugge in their must-win Final League phase match. Their low general position means that they have to do things in the hard way when they reach the round of 16, with reigning champions Madrid lurking.
Pep Guardiola's side welcomed players from an injury and are better able to prepare to take on Arsenal on Sunday. The inverted fixture ended 2-2, but more meaningful saw the city midfielder Rodri suffer an ACL tear that has kept him out of operation since then.
Akanji has been available more often than most, with in 19 of the 23 league matches of City and seven of the eight in Europe. In anticipation of Sunday's game, he claimed that he and his teammates will fully focus on Arsenal before trying to deal with Madrid's task.
“We have to match match, game by game, we have Arsenal following and we have to recover very well now,” Akanji told FlashScore. “It is an important game for us. It will not be easy for us, so we have to recover well (the Club Brugge Win) and we have to be ready for the challenge.”
City ended as one of the four teams on 11 points after the Champions League League phase, with only three in the play -offs, but the former defender of Borussia Dortmund looks ahead instead of back.
“That was not the way we wanted it, but here we are now and I am still convinced that we can beat who will come next,” he added. “I don't know what's going on in their heads. I think we can beat every team in Europe, so who comes, we are ready for the challenge.”
Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti insisted that the preparation of his team will not change after the draw. “It doesn't change anything. We all want the perfect world, but there is none,” he said.
“We have lost one game and we could not get in the top eight. It's ok, play two games more or less. It will be two difficult and entertaining games, but we have the means to win them.”
Both legs of the play – Off -off are held in February, where City – the lower team – first plays at home. The winner of the two -legged encounter will compete against Bayer Leverkusen or Atletico Madrid in the round of 16.
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