Rodri: Man City are better than Madrid, we must prove it

Rodri has challenged Manchester City to prove their superiority over Real Madrid in Friday's Champions League showdown at the Etihad Stadium.

City head into the second leg of the last-16 encounter with a 2-1 advantage from February's initial clash at the Santiago Bernabeu, where Gabriel Jesus' header and Kevin De Bruyne's penalty overturned Isco's 60th-minute opener.

Pep Guardiola's side controlled large parts of the contest, although former Atletico Madrid man Rodri does not feel that should cause complacency against the 13-time winners, who are fresh from sealing LaLiga glory.

"They are more than a team, they have that way of playing. You can never relax, even if you are winning 3-0 or 4-0 they still come back," he told a pre-match news conference.

"They have a huge personality to be the champions they have been over the past 20 or 30 years.

"They are the biggest team in this competition but now football has changed a little bit. It is so competitive. The distances between teams are so, so narrow.

"I know that we have a better team but we have to show that we have a better team on the pitch with our good behaviour and personality.

"I think we have a better squad and if we do things well, I think everything is going to be good for us."

Pressed to expand on that confident assessment during the Spanish language section of the briefing, Rodri acknowledged his words will mean nothing if City come undone.

178/188 - Rodri attempted 188 passes tonight versus West Ham, completing 178 of them - both are Premier League records since detailed collection began in 2003-04. The entire West Ham team completed 169 passes. Orchestrator. pic.twitter.com/3VL1fCpaLN

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 19, 2020

"That's just a general opinion of mine. I think we have got a better team, but words are worthless if you can't demonstrate them out on the field," he said.

"It's down to us to prove that, prove what I've been saying.

"There are lots of general reasons, but I'd just say we're a side that is full of goals and we've got talented players in every position, every area of the field.

"We've got to play well and I think we've got to match Real Madrid in what they may have that is better than us – more experience on the massive stage than us and they've got a strong mentality in these big, big games.

"If we match them in those areas, fate will decide, but I think we'll have a good chance."

City's record signing also cast a glance to the bigger picture of reaching the final stages of this season's tournament in Lisbon and the prospect of claiming a maiden Champions League crown for the club.

"We know we want to win the Champions League, so we want to win every single match," he added.

"It is important to win tomorrow. We are focused on wining the Champions League. The confidence of the team is to get this goal.

"It is a dream for everyone, for me. Tomorrow we have this amazing match that is a final for us.

"We have the confidence that it is a long tournament. We want to win the tournament, not only the Real Madrid match."