Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola claims he acted like a kid who met his hero after his side eliminated Real Madrid from the Champions League. The Spaniard could be seen having a friendly conversation with Real manager Zinedine Zidane in the wake of the 2-1, second-leg win at the Etihad Stadium on Friday and has since revealed details of their chinwag.
The Premier League side are the favourites to win the prestigious European tournament at 9/4 with the bookmakers, with German powerhouse Bayern Munich now 3/1 following their 7-1 decimation of Chelsea in the second leg of their tie on Saturday. Paris Saint-Germain are also in the hunt for the big-eared trophy and sportsbooks have the French outfit at 5/1 to lift it.
Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus gave City the advantage on the night, helping the former top-flight champions to a 4-2 aggregate victory over Zidane’s La Liga winners.
City are now set to go head-to-head with Lyon on Saturday, August 15, and are the obvious betting favourites for this one, with Betfair offering odds of 2/9. Lyon are 10/1 with Paddy Power and punters who fancy an over 3.5 goal affair could grab odds of 6/4 from Betfred. Fans new to betting should, by all means, take advantage of a number of new signup offers such as a risk-free bonus by visiting Freebets.uk.
Meanwhile, Guardiola has divulged his conversation with Zidane, hailing the Frenchman as one of his idols when he was a player, also branding him “one of the greatest.”
“I congratulated him for LaLiga,” he said, per talkSPORT. “I always said to win the league is the most difficult title because it shows 11 months being there. We spoke about our families and I wished him all the best. He was one of my idols when I was a player.
“I played against him in the national team with France and I suffered a lot. He was one of the greatest and as a human being he is an example and I like how he can represent our profession like he does.”
In other news, striker Sergio Aguero is a huge doubt to play again this season after undergoing knee surgery and is reported to have told close friends that there’s very little chance he suits up for City before next term.
City’s record goal-scorer sustained an injury in the team’s 5-0 drubbing of Burnley in June yet there is a slim possibility of him joining his teammates in Portugal.
While he’s been out, Jesus has scored five times in seven appearances, including the decisive goal in Friday’s win over Madrid.
888sport and Unibet are both offering odds of 13/5 on Aguero scoring first against Lyon, with most bookies staying away from the prospect at the moment. Sterling is 16/5 to do so with William Hill while Jesus is 3/1 with Betfair.
Betfair are also offering 25/1 odds on Sterling scoring a hat trick in the match; fans could also grab 33/1 odds on Jesus scoring three goals while 66/1 odds could be had on Mahrez finding the back of the net three times.
Coverage of the Champions and Europa leagues continues on BT Sport which, in addition to live matches, is offering fans a new magazine show, Club 2020 Daily with James Richardson, recapping the previous night’s action and looking ahead to the day’s matches.
The channel has recently launched a monthly pass allowing fans without BT TV or broadband to subscribe without any longterm commitment and has also announced that both contests’ finals will be shown free on YouTube, allowing everyone to enjoy the action.