Pep Guardiola Orders Manchester City Squad to Stay Home Ahead of Real Madrid Showdown

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has taken the unusual step of instructing his players to remain at home rather than report for training as they prepare for Tuesday’s do-or-die Champions League meeting with Real Madrid.

City must overturn a 3-0 deficit from the first leg at the Bernabéu, where Federico Valverde’s hat-trick dealt the Premier League champions a sobering blow. With only three days separating Saturday’s 1-1 draw at West Ham and the decisive return fixture, Guardiola has opted for rest over reps.

“We were in Madrid, travel here, day after here no training, go to London, arrive yesterday at 2.30am, today you cannot do anything because the players who played are still at home and tomorrow we train,” Guardiola explained. “We don’t have time to train. I prefer them to be at home.”

The Catalan coach, who guided City to a 4-1 victory over Dortmund in November after employing a similar mini-break, believes the squad’s 11-month schedule—including December’s Club World Cup—has left them in need of mental and physical space. “Sometimes I train, sometimes I say stay at home. We have been together for 11 months … we know each other quite well.”

City will convene at the Etihad Campus at 2 pm on matchday for a light activation session before the 8 pm kick-off. Anything less than a three-goal win will see the Sky Blues eliminated; anything more could set up a quarter-final date with Bayern Munich, who lead Atalanta 6-1 after the first leg of their own last-16 tie.

Guardiola’s gamble will be scrutinised across Europe, but the manager insists the priority is freshness, not tactics. “We will not have to train something but repetition for the training will take us to Real Madrid,” he said. For City, the equation is simple: win big, or go home—just not before Tuesday.