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City are unstoppable! …Grealish claims, but Guardiola disagrees

Jack Grealish said Manchester City “feel unstoppable” after their Champions League win over Real Madrid, but Pep Guardiola disagreed, warning “every team is stoppable”.

City progressed to the final after a 4-0 mauling of Real Madrid in the second leg of their semi-final, securing a 5-1 aggregate win.

The fantastic form that has seen City go 23 games unbeaten, winning their last 15 at the Etihad Stadium, was far too good for Real Madrid. It is magnificent Manches­ter City who will play Inter Milan in the Champions League final in Istanbul on June 10.

Grealish, who dazzled yet again, said: “Unbelievable. Just to be in this moment is so nice. I don’t think many teams can do that to Real Madrid but when we’re all together and playing, especially at home, we feel unstoppable.

“I saw a stat the other day about how many Champions League games we’ve won at home com­pared to away, I couldn’t believe it. When we play here in front of our fans, we feel unstoppable. Even in the league, we feel nobody can beat us. You see what we’ve done to Bayern Munich, Leipzig and tonight, it’s unbelievable.”

Guardiola has now reached the Champions League final for a fourth time, with Carlo Ancelotti the only manager to reach more in the history of the European Cup. His only final appearance with City ended in defeat to Chelsea, but his side are heavy favourites to beat Inter Milan in the showpiece on June 10.

Guardiola said: “This is one of the highest [results of my career], considering the opponent, Real Madrid, in the semi-final of the Champions League. We had to perform well, and we did it, espe­cially in the first half. It was really, really good.

“I had a feeling these last days that we had a mix of calmness and tension to play these kind of games. After 10 or 15 minutes, I had the feeling that all the pain of last season was there today. It was so hard and tough last season [against Real Madrid], when we played quite similar to how we played today.

“We were there and it was really tough to lose the way we lost, we had to swallow the poison. In foot­ball, in sport, there is always an­other chance, and when the draw was Madrid I said, ‘yes, I want it’. Today, everything was there. The energy we had last season after a year of the players being criticised for not having character. We lost because of football, but today we were there. I am so pleased for the whole organisation.” — Sky Sports

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