Manchester City feel “unstoppable” at the Etihad Stadium ahead of next week’s Champions League semi-final second leg, says Jack Grealish. City recorded a well-fought 1-1 draw at Real Madrid on Tuesday to keep their Champions League hopes alive and must win at the Etihad to reach a second final in the competition. Speaking after an entertaining game at the Bernabeu, winger Jack Grealish said City have learned from last year’s semi-final defeat to Real, and that the squad feel nobody can stop them on home turf with a 100 per cent record in 2023 at the Etihad. Since the World Cup, City have won 16 and drawn just one of their 17 home games, with Real next up to try and end that record.
Jack Grealish said: “We have a new team this year, different players. It’s a year ago. We’ve learned so much since last year, we’ve got a perfect balance of experience, a few youngsters, Phil [Foden] and Erling [Haaland] who are world class. And the experience, and quality. I’ve never felt so confident going onto the pitch and having players around me. I can’t remember, since Brentford before the World Cup, when was the last time we even draw a game, I think we’ve won every game, obviously we lost that one. Even within ourselves we feel unstoppable at the Etihad. We came here to win, I swear we didn’t come here to try and get a draw. It shows our character to go a goal down. It’s always difficult to come to a place like this and in the end I think it was a fair result. They had chances, we had a few, I really enjoyed it tonight.”
Grealish also opened up on his physical battle with Real right-back Dani Carvajal, with the pair coming together on multiple occasions and earning a collective telling-off from the referee at one point.
Jack Grealish said: “It’s difficult, they play and let us have the first pass and had a high press which is what the manager says, keep the ball, take touches. Playing against Carvajal, the amount of people who said before the game: ‘you know what he’s going to be like.’ It was a good battle, I was tired after the game, I’ve never had cramp before but I’ve got it in both calves!”
