Manchester City have avoided facing future manager Pep Guardiola in the semi-final of the Champions League after being drawn against Real Madrid.
Manuel Pellegrini’s side reached their first ever Champions League semi-final by beating Paris Saint-Germain 3-2 on aggregate in the last eight.
They have been drawn against Spanish side Real Madrid, who overturned a 2-0 first-leg deficit against Wolfsburg to advance courtesy of a Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick in the return.
City have thereby avoided an awkward tie against Bayern Munich’s Guardiola, who will take over as manager at the Etihad in the summer.
Pellegrini’s side will host Real in the first leg before visiting the Bernabeu in the second. City are 51/20 to win the first leg at the Etihad Stadium, according to 888sport.com
In the other semi-final, Guardiola and Bayern will take on Atletico Madrid, who knocked out holders Barcelona in the quarter-finals.
The winners of the Man City v Real Madrid tie will be considered the home team for the final in Milan.
Man City’s only two meetings with Real Madrid in European competition came in 2012 in the Champions League group stage. Real won 3-2 in the Bernabeu in September with City’s goals coming from Edin Dzeko and Aleksandar Kolarov.
But City managed a 1-1 draw in the return match in the November with Sergio Aguero’s penalty cancelling out Karim Benzema’s opener.
The two teams also met in July last year in pre-season in the International Champions Cup in Melbourne with Real Madrid winning 4-1.
Champions League semi-final draw (if you’ve already forgotten):
Manchester City v Real Madrid
Atletico Madrid v Bayern Munich
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