Guardiola Hopes Grealish Can Prove Himself, Real Madrid's Match Is The Key

Jack Grealish was asked to prove against Real Madrid to return to his regular place at Manchester City (Instagram/@jackgreealish).

JAKARTA - Pep Guardiola challenged Jack Grealish to prove that he was more than just a FA Cup player by helping Manchester City keep their hopes in the Champions League against Real Madrid.

Grealish, 29 years old, has scored just one goal throughout the season for The Citizens -- a penalty in an 8-0 win in the FA Cup Third Round against Salford City -- and a drop in performance continued into last season, which cost him a place in the England squad for Euro 2024.

The player who was recruited for 100 million pounds from Aston Villa was included in Guardiola's squad for the second leg of the knockout phase of the Champions League against Real Madrid.

With City trailing 2-3 from last week's first leg at Etihad, Guardiola said he needed Grealish to prove he could perform at the top level again.

"He (Grealish) was able to play a very good game like in the FA Cup, but had no consistency to play every week with three games."

"Likewise with six games in two weeks. He can't do it, but hopefully in the three and a half months we have before the end of the season, he can do it," said Guardiola.

Manchester City will face Real Madrid for the third season in a row in the Champions League.

They beat Carlo Ancelotti's side on their way to winning the Champions League in 2023, before losing to the Spanish giant in last season's quarter-finals.

Before the second leg against Real Madrid, Guardiola had stated that the chances of The Citizens advancing to the last 16 of the Champions League this season were only one percent.

However, Real Madrid did not respond to this pessimistic statement with congenitals. Los Blancos still did not want to underestimate Manchester City's eyes even though they had one leg in the round of 16.