Manchester City used last season's Champions League semi-final collapse against Real Madrid to their advantage in the build-up to Tuesday's draw at the Bernabeu.
City were paired with Madrid at the semi-final stage for the second year running, and returned to the Bernabeu this week 12 months on from conceding twice in second-half injury time at the end of the second leg to force extra-time. Real had the momentum and knocked City out, but the Blues were far more composed a year on and recorded a respectable 1-1 draw to take into next week's deciding home leg.
Reflecting on the draw, defender Manu Akanji revealed that last year's performance was analysed in the pre-match preparations this week, and ensured that the City squad wouldn't repeat their mistakes this time.
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Akanji started at left-back in the absence of Nathan Ake, and largely kept Rodrygo quiet, although he pointed to Real's impressive opening goal by Vinicius as proof that there is simply no room for the defence to switch off in the second leg.
“We looked at the videos of what happened last year, and we’ve learned," Akanji said. "We did it a lot better. It’s Real Madrid - you cannot defend everything, we did our best, we scored a goal, they scored a goal. We did a good job. It’s for sure one of the toughest games [this season].
“If we don’t concede a [second] goal, we’re always dangerous to score at least one goal a game. Defence helps us to give us bigger opportunities in transition or possession. We will see how much the 1-1 helps us next week.”
Challenging his teammates to cut out the mistakes in the second leg, Akanji said that his defensive colleagues must be sharper in next week's second leg.
“If you make one mistake you get punished immediately. It’s why both teams always need to be ready," the Swiss international explained.
"There was a little bit too much space for a player like Vinícius [Júnior] or Kevin [De Bruyne]. We made a couple of mistakes, but they sometimes put the pressure on us so it’s not easy to play away and you lose the ball sometimes. He [Pep Guardiola] wants us to play perfectly and we demand it from ourselves as well. Mistakes happen but it’s important even if we lose the ball we defend together as a team.
“It’s one game out of two. We’ve got to bring our best game next week. We need to defend really well and clear in our attacks. We can’t make any mistakes and be smart.”
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