Pep Guardiola fending off Real Madrid suspicions as spotlight shines on unusual Man City approach

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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola goes up against his biggest rival in what could be his final Champions League game

The vultures have started to circle around the Etihad Stadium. And the noises they are making are in fluent Spanish.

As Manchester City desperately try to stop their season from crumbling at a late hurdle, Real Madrid are just waking up. A team that has struggled all term and parted ways with a coach who was meant to be leading them into a glorious new future could yet drag themselves to more silverware this campaign.

At the very least, Madrid are eyeing the scalp of Pep Guardiola again. If the City coach decides to call it a day this season, as many from outside of the club believe, then there is a strong possibility that a man who catapulted his coaching career by leading a brilliant Barcelona to a dazzling Champions League victory will see out his final game in the competition with a defeat to the European powerhouse that is Real Madrid.

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Whether it is coaches or teams, so many come and go but Real see them all off in the end. Any nerves that clouded the Bernabeu last week were displaced by that incredible Fede Valverde hat-trick, and now it is Guardiola's blood that is scented in the water by a hungry Madrid pack.

City's press conference on the eve of this game had mostly been centred around whether or not Guardiola felt the tie could be turned around, then he was asked by Marca about a 'culture of failure' and the possibility that City could be out early again in the Champions League. Whether it was meant to push the manager's buttons or not, it did so.

Guardiola referenced how Real have 'only' won 15 European Cups out of 'probably 100 attempts,' and highlighted the 'Quinta del Buitre' team that Real had in the 1980s - one that dominated Spanish football yet failed to win the biggest European prize - as one of the best he has ever seen to make his point that failure is a matter of personal opinion.

Fifteen years since the Catalan managed Barcelona for the last time, he still struggles to escape the politics of Spanish football. And, after all that time and despite a number of miserable nights at the Bernabeu, he is still poking back at the Madrid bear.

The decision to cancel training on the Monday before the game was played down by Guardiola and captain Bernardo Silva, and it is true that they have done it a few times before. Yet the reality is that it still remains unusual, and has been treated as suspicious by a sceptical Madrid media who are wary of the tricks Guardiola can play; it is overthinking in defeat but genius in victory, and there would not have been many bigger triumphs than if City are able to progress to the quarter-finals this year.

In truth, it probably helps City not to have trained - even if they may face disciplinary action from UEFA for their lateness in cancelling. Everyone is clear that they need to play as perfect a game as they can do, as true to Guardiola's principles as they can be - that should be well-known enough after the month and years that so many players have spent with the manager.

Unlike Alexander Hamilton, City will not be throwing away their shot at the Etihad on Tuesday night. They will just need it to go in the goal at least three times if Guardiola is to live to fight another day in the Champions League.