Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has told his players to stay at home before their crucial Champions League clash with Real Madrid.
The Cityzens currently trail the La Liga giants 3-0 after their last 16 first leg in Madrid last week, with Federico Valverde scoring a hat-trick.
But with the game coming just days after his side faced West Ham in the Premier League, Guardiola has ordered his team to rest, instead of reporting for training.
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Why has Pep Guardiola told his players to stay at home?
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Guardiola hasn't had it his way this week, with City first beaten by Real 3-0 at the Bernabeu, with Valverde the star of the show.
But Manchester City were then dealt a further blow in terms of their Premier League title hopes, as relegation-threatened West Ham grabbed a point in Saturday's 1-1 draw at the London Stadium.
Manchester City players celebrate Antoine Semenyo's opening goal during the Carabao Cup Semi-Final First Leg match between Newcastle United and Manchester City at St. James's Park in Newcastle, England, on January 13, 2026. (Photo by Scott Llewellyn/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Manchester City also have a huge Carabao Cup final with Arsenal on the horizon
Explaining how City were back in for a recovery session yesterday, with former Barca boss detailed why the team had opened to give the squad an extra day's rest.
"We were in Madrid, travel here, day after here no training, go to London, arrive yesterday at 2.30am, today you cannot do anything because the players who played are still at home and tomorrow we train," he began.
"We will not have to train something but repetition for the training will take us to Real Madrid.
"We don't have time to train. I prefer them to be at home. We will arrive at 2[pm], move a little on the legs and go. I did it two or three times this season.
"Sometimes I train, sometimes I say stay at home. We have been together for 11 months with the [Club] World Cup so we know each other quite well."
Erling Haaland of Manchester City looks dejected after Morgan Gibbs-White of Nottingham Forest (not pictured) scores his team's first goal during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Nottingham Forest at Etihad Stadium on March 04, 2026 in Manchester, England.
Erling Haaland of Manchester City looks dejected after Morgan Gibbs-White of Nottingham Forest (not pictured) scores his team's first goal during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Nottingham Forest at Etihad Stadium on March 04, 2026 in Manchester, England.
This isn't the first time City have opted not to train before a big game. They also took the decision back in November, between a Premier League game with Bournemouth and a Champions League clash at home to Dortmund.
Guardiola said then that it was better that the players 'didn't see each other' until the morning of the contest. The Sky Blues won that match 4-1 and City will need to win by at least a three-goal margin if they are to have any hope of overhauling their first-leg deficit on Tuesday.
The winners will almost certainly meet Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals, with the Bundesliga side having destroyed Atalanta 6-1 in the first leg of their last-16 clash.