'Always the same!' - Manchester City sporting director Txiki Begiristain 'bored of these balls' after treble winners draw Real Madrid in Champions League AGAIN

The encounter with Real Madrid marks the third consecutive season that Manchester City and the Spanish giants have met in the knockout stages. In the 2022 campaign, Real Madrid secured a dramatic 6-5 aggregate victory over City in the semi-finals. However, City exacted revenge last season, delivering a stunning 5-1 aggregate triumph on their way to lifting the trophy for the first time in the club's history.

Despite the exhilarating matchups in recent years, Begiristain is vexed with facing the same opponents time and again. In fact, the two teams have met eight times in the Champions League since the 2015-16 season - and before that, they had crossed paths on just two occasions.

After the draw, Begiristain said: "What a pity. These balls bore me; it's always the same. This year's draw is identical to last year's, just swap Liverpool with Arsenal... We will try to replicate what we succeeded in doing last season when we made it to the final against Real."

Begiristain believes that City's commanding 4-0 victory in the second leg of last season's semi-final serves as a source of inspiration for the upcoming clash and Pep Guardiola's troops will once again emerge triumphant over Los Blancos over the two legs.

“Now it’s Real Madrid but we have to remember we beat them last season in the semi-finals so we will try to remember that,” Begiristain pointed out.

“We need to remember that we beat them last season in the semi-final and we played at home in the second leg. We did a top, top job in the second leg but we need to remember how strong they are and that they are top of their league and that they enjoy this competition.

“It’s the history of Real Madrid. Every time they face up in this competition, they think they are going to win. The only thing is that we are confident. We are doing well, we have been in the last years fighting for this competition and at the end we won it. “Also, the competition that we are doing this year has also been very good. We have been winning all games so we hope that we can keep this rhythm. Mentally we are strong."

Before flying to Spain for the first leg on April 8, City have a packed domestic schedule with an FA Cup fixture against Newcastle United to start with on Saturday afternoon. Subsequently, they have three crucial Premier League fixtures against Arsenal, Aston Villa & Crystal Palace.