Pep Guardiola makes surprising admission after cancelling Man City training session before facing Real Madrid in crunch Champions League second leg

Despite the odds being stacked against City, Guardiola decided that there would be no training session the day before the match. Instead, City will train on the day of the game. It is the third time the coach has cancelled training the day before a game, doing the same ahead of the Champions League game with Borussia Dortmund in November (which City won 4-1) and before December's trip to Fulham (which they won 5-4). 

The second leg against Madrid will be City's third game in seven days and Guardiola said that tiredness from the away trip to Spain and the 1-1 draw at West Ham on Saturday was one factor why he decided to cancel the training session. And he declared that training sessions are not much use anyway.

Guardiola told a press conference: "We were in Madrid, late in the hotel, come back in the morning, no training, yesterday [after West Ham] we came back at two or three in the morning. Today in the modern day, training doesn't improve a lot. I have done it two or three times this season. Before Dortmund, Fulham. Sometimes we train or stay at home. We know each other well, we practice many things."

Asked whether not training before those games helped his side prepare for the games against Dortmund or Fulham, he responded: "I don't know."

City captain Bernardo Silva insisted he was not surprised by the decision to cancel training. "We've done it in the past plenty of times when we lost games, when we won games, when the manager felt that it was the best for the team," he explained. "And with all the trips that we had this week, I think he just thought that it would be best for us to sleep better, to stay at home one more day, to free a bit our minds and come back tomorrow, stronger and ready for the game."

Asked whether City could pull off the comeback, the Portuguese said: "This sport has taught us that a lot of things can happen in a football game. And even though the result in Madrid was was really bad, we will fight. We will, for sure, fight until the end, knowing that it's going to be tough. The opponent is a very good one. The first result was not good but a lot of things can happen, especially at home here at the Etihad."

Madrid will be boosted for the second leg by the return of Kylian Mbappe, who missed the first leg with injury along with Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo. It will be Guardiola's 30th game against Los Blancos as a coach for City, Bayern Munich and Barcelona and his 50th game including matches as a player for Barca.

As a coach, his record reads 14 wins, six draws and nine defeats, with his teams scoring 59 goals compared to Madrid's 47. With City his record reads five wins, four defeats and three draws although he has won two of the five knockout ties with the 15 times European champions.

Guardiola reflected: "I'm very satisfied with what I have experienced [against Madrid]. So many games give you a lot of perspective and the results aren't bad. We have done many incredible things and whatever happens tomorrow will not change everything I have experienced as a player and a coach."

Asked if he had a special message prepared for his players to motivate them, he added: "There are few things to say, it is like a final. We are all grown ups and we know what we have to do. We have to play a perfect game to turn the tie around."