Manchester City's Elimination From The Champions League Will Be Good News For Real Madrid

Carlo Ancelotti hopes Manchester City will be eliminated in the Champions League group phase (Instagram/@realmadrid).

Carlo Ancelotti said the elimination of Manchester City from the Champions League would be good news for Real Madrid.

He emphasized that the Premier League team, which is struggling, remains one of the candidates to win the Champions League.

Real Madrid beat RB Salzburg 5-1 at Bernabeu on Thursday, January 23, 2025, to ensure they have a place in the knockout round of the playoffs - with little chance of entering the top eight or a straight qualifying zone to the last 16.

While Manchester City lost 2-4 at Paris Saint-Germain which made their future in the Champions League doubtful.

"Yes," Ancelotti said in a press conference after the match when asked if Manchester City's failure to advance to the knockout phase would be good news.

"Because Manchester City is still, for me, one of the candidates to win the Champions League again," he said again.

In the last three seasons, Real Madrid and Manchester City have faced each other in the knockout stages of the Champions League, including when Los Blancos won the trophy in 2022 and 2024.

Real Madrid are in the Champions League this season, beating Stuttgart, Borussia Dortmund, Atalanta, and Salzburg, but losing to Lille, AC Milan, and Liverpool.

They only won 12 points from seven matches so they only lived in 16th position in the group stage standings.

Bitterly, they had to desperately play the playoffs to get the remaining eight tickets to the last 16 phase.

Ancelotti further refused to think about who the opponent was in the playoffs. The most important thing is to win.

"You never know," Ancelotti said when asked about Madrid's chances of facing a tough opponent in the playoffs.

"Only one thing is clear. We have to win our last game. At this club, that's nothing new."

Meanwhile, Manchester City are in 25th place with only seven points, outside the knockout phase playoff zone, after three defeats, two draws, and only two wins.

The defeat at the Parc des Princes came after Manchester City took a 2-0 lead. The result made the steps of Pep Guardiola's troops even more difficult with only one game remaining.