Guardiola’s ‘final at home next week’

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is relishing a "final playing at home next week" against Real Madrid after a 1-1 draw in their semi-final first leg on Tuesday.

Guardiola was happy with a 1-1 draw in the first leg, made possible by Kevin De Bruyne's stunning second-half strike which cancelled Vinicius Junior's first-half rocket for the hosts.

The result set up a mouth-watering encounter next Wednesday at the Etihad.

City have won all 14 games at the Etihad this year by a combined score of 49-7 as Pep Guardiola's men close in on a potential treble of Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup.

"It was a really tight game. We started really well and when we were better, they made an incredible transition from Camavinga and an incredible finish from Vinicius. And when they were better than us in the second half, we scored a goal.

Vinicius Junior had earlier given the record 14-time champions a first-half lead with an equally impressive strike. Photo: Reuters

"It's open to Manchester, it will be a final playing at home with our people and we look forward to it. The effort was incredible. It's like a play-off now.

"We will try to adjust something maybe in the second leg to be more fluid and play with a bit more rhythm because we play at home and at home, we feel comfortable with our people."

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said: "We could have won it, we deserved to but these things happen.  We come away with positive feelings ahead of the return leg because we played the game well."