Bernardo Silva insists Manchester City will go to the Bernabeu with no fear.
Pep Guardiola’s Treble-chasers face the 14-time European champions in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals on Tuesday night, 12 months after a late rally by the Spaniards sent them crashing out at the same stage.
Silva believes that overcoming star names like Karim Benzema and Luka Modric will be tough enough for the Blues to be worried by the weight of history. Winning the Champions League is the only box left for City to tick after dominating the Premier League for over a decade.
And Silva said: “Madrid are the biggest team in Europe - and probably historically, too, because they won this competition the most. We will try to be ready to beat them this time, knowing that’s a tough team to beat. But it’s not about the badge, it’s never about the badge. It’s about the players who are on the pitch.
“Madrid win a lot of times because they have the best managers and the best players. If they didn’t have Modric, Kroos, Vinicius, Benzema - I could say everyone - then they wouldn’t win anything because the shirts and the badge don’t win things.
“But now we also have a top manager and top players to compete against them and we are going to try our best. There is no fear at all. There is a lot of respect because they are a top team.
“Everyone has to respect a team like Real Madrid. We would be stupid if we didn’t respect them.”
Guardiola has not lifted the European crown since he led Barcelona to their second triumph in two seasons in 2011. Both the Catalan and City have suffered a catalogue of near-misses - including a shock defeat to Chelsea in the 2021 final.
Last year, they dominated Madrid for 175 minutes over two legs only to then concede two late goals before being eliminated in extra-time. Guardiola refuses to have his Etihad reign defined by success in Europe.
But Silva admitted: “It’s definitely a competition that we want - because it’s the only one that we haven’t won yet. So we are not going to lie and say we don’t want it. Of course we want it.
“We know how tough the task is because we play not only against the best teams in England, but against the best teams in Europe. Madrid is always a tough opponent in the Champions League.
“But we are going to try to keep this momentum we have built in the last one or two months and will arrive in that game confident and ready. Madrid won the Champions League last season for a reason.
“This season they have already beaten Liverpool and Chelsea, so it’s not going to be an easy task. But we have a goal of wanting to beat them this time, knowing that last year we lost in very tough circumstances.
“I think Manchester City needs to win the Champions League. It would be a nice picture, imagining ourselves with the cup at the end of the season.”
