Will Guardiola bow before the kings of Europe again?

Pep Guardiola might not bring up his half-century. Recent Champions League history suggests he will, given that Manchester City and Real Madrid contrive to face each other every year, at some stage or another.

- RICHARD JOLLY

For Guardiola, the former Barcelona ball boy turned manager, in a career that incorporated the captaincy as well, it is a 49th meeting with the archenemies.

He played against them 21 times, has managed against them on 27 occasions. Guardiola against Real has felt one of the defining battles of the 21st century. His Barcelona probably rank as the finest side of the millennium; and yet, since he became a coach, he has won three Champions Leagues and Real have won six. That could seem a crushing defeat for his footballing idealism, or merely explain why Guardiola always calls Real “the kings of Europe”.

In more recent times, Guardiola against Real could be deemed a battle for the soul of European football in another way. It was new money against old, the Premier League against La Liga, the UAE against the European Super League. If tectonic plates were forever shifting, perhaps they did not move as much as many expected. City conquered Europe once, in 2023, but they did not dominate it as some predicted. Arguably, though, it was only Real who held them at bay: in the last four seasons, City either won the competition or were knocked out by Real.