The French Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said on Saturday that Manchester City will enter the confrontation that will bring him together with his team in the final price of the UEFA Champions League with a “huge” incentive after the UEFA excluded the English club from participating in continental competitions For two years due to “serious breaches of the rules of fair financial play.”
The European Union (UEFA) said in a statement on Friday that Citi had committed “serious violations” of the rules of financial fair play in addition to fining him 30 million euros before the club announced immediately that he would resume the punishment before the sports arbitration court “Cass”.
And the Spanish coach Josep Guardiola said the team will visit Real in the first leg of the final price of the continental championship at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on February 26, before the return match at Al Ittihad Stadium on March 17.
“Given what happened just now, their motivation will be enormous. I will not go into details of what happened and what may happen,” Zidane said on the eve of hosting the Real Madrid leader of Celta Vigo in the seventeenth stage of the League.
Zidane confirmed that City “will be a difficult opponent in all circumstances, especially for what they are going through in the English Premier League, so he will have additional motivations.”
City, champion of the past two seasons, is second in the Premier League, 22 points behind leaders Liverpool, while Guardiola expressed his fear that he could be sacked if he did not outperform Real Madrid from the continental championship, especially since he failed in his three seasons with the Citizens in exceeding the quarter-finals.
However, Zidane is well aware of the strength of the team that crowned the local title in two consecutive seasons, winning 100 and 98 points, respectively.
“It will be a very, very difficult opponent for us, it is a great team,” said Zidane, 47, who led Real to 3 consecutive league titles between 2016 and 2018.
In another context, the former midfielder confirmed that it was time for Belgium’s Eden Hazard to return to the team after an ankle injury had kept him out of the field since last November.
“We know what the team is winning with Hazard, he is winning a very big player. It is time to return to the team, train with us and feel good. He has not played for 3 months, but he is physically ready to play with us. He will be with us tomorrow and ready to start playing again,” said the former French international.
Hazard had moved in the summer to the Royal Club from Chelsea, but he did not provide the levels he provided with the Blues, with the goal of an orphan and 4 assists in 13 games in all competitions before the injury.
