Pep Guardiola in panic mode over FOUR ‘exceptional’ Real Madrid stars as Man City plot revenge mission

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has named Kylian Mbappe and Jude Bellingham among the four Real Madrid players he is worried about, as the defending Premier League champions prepare to face Los Blancos in the Champions League this week, while the Spanish giants have been rocked by a major injury ahead of the game.

Both Madrid and Man City failed to finish in the top eight in the League Stage of the Champions League this season. While the defending Spanish and European champions ended up a point behind eight-placed Aston Villa, the English club picked up just 11 points from their eight matches and finished 22^nd in the table.

Man City and Madrid will now face each other in the Knockout Round playoffs for the chance to progress to the Round of 16 of Europe’s premier club competition.

The first leg of the tie will be held at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday evening, and ahead of the match, Guardiola has spoken highly of Madrid, who beat Man City in the quarter-finals of Europe’s premier club competition last season.

The Man City boss has said that Madrid’s front four of Mbappe, Bellingham, Rodrygo and Vinicius Junior are impossible to stop.

Guardiola told Mundo Deportivo: “I have a lot of respect for Madrid and their players, it has always been like this. We know that they have a lot of talent, but Madrid has always stood out for being solid.

“When you get four forwards like they have to get involved in defence, the team is much better.”

Speaking specifically about the threat posed by Mbappe, Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo and Bellingham, Guardiola noted: “It’s impossible to control these players in 90/120/200 minutes.

“They are exceptional, everyone knows it: how they combine, the skill in the one-on-one, how they keep the ball, the four are exceptional and we have to try to reduce their participation.”

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Real Madrid suffer Lucas Vazquez injury

Madrid have had severe injury problems in defence this season and have suffered yet another blow ahead of the first leg against Man City on Tuesday.

Antonio Rudiger, Dani Carvajal, Eder Militao and David Alaba were already out of the trip to Manchester, and now Madrid have announced that Lucas Vazquez will not feature in the game.

Vazquez is a winger by trade, but he has been playing at right-back due to the injury to Carvajal.

The Spaniard was forced off late on against Atletico Madrid in LaLiga this past weekend.

A statement on Madrid’s official website reads: “Following tests carried out on Lucas Vázquez today by the Real Madrid Medical Services, he has been diagnosed with a muscle injury in his left hamstring, meaning he will not be in the squad to travel to Manchester. His recovery will be assessed.”

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Guardiola’s praise for Bellingham and Rodrygo comes after reports emerged that the Man City manager wants to sign the two Madrid stars in the summer transfer window.

Reports in France and Spain this week claimed that the former Barcelona boss has made a request to his Man City bosses to get a deal done for Bellingham in the summer transfer window.

However, Madrid, who signed Bellingham from Borussia Dortmund in 2023, does not want to sell the England international.

Rodrygo, who was the subject of a world-record bid from the Saudi Pro League in the January transfer window, is on the radar of Man City as well as PSG.

Meanwhile, Madrid are in danger of losing Vinicius Junior at the end of the season.

The Brazil international forward has turned down the first offer of a new contract from Los Blancos.

Madrid are still in talks with Vinicius Junior over a new deal, but the big problem for the defending Spanish and European champions is that the Saudi Pro League got in touch with the forward’s camp in December and made it clear to them that he is a big target in the summer transfer window.

One of the players that Madrid are keen on signing in the summer transfer window is Martin Zubimendi.

Zubimendi has established himself as one of the best midfielders in the world and has been a star for Real Sociedad.

The Spain international has a release clause of £51million in his contract at Sociedad that Arsenal are planning to trigger.

However, reports in Spain have claimed that Madrid are confident of beating Arsenal to the signing of Zubimendi.

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