Zidane; Pellegrini React To UCL Semi Final Draw

Manchester City will be facing Real Madrid in the semi final of the UEFA champions league this season and reactions are already trailing the draws:

Zinédine Zidane, Real Madrid coach

"It's a semi final so it's going to be a very very difficult game. The only thing that's positive is that we are playing the second leg at home; that's positive but it's going to be a very difficult tie, a brutal tie."

"Real Madrid are always the favourites, it's always been that way and always will be. It doesn't bother us. We know how difficult it is to play a quarter-final and we know it's even harder to play a semi-final. As always we'll do our best to get through."

"I don't agree that Madrid always get easy draws; we saw that in a so-called easy game [with Wolfsburg] we lost 2-0 and it was a difficult game. We have to play against everyone to reach the final; Roma, City and Wolfsburg are very good teams."

Manuel Pellegrini, City manager
"It is a difficult draw. It didn't matter which team we were paired with, I didn't have a preference. There is no greater motivation. The motivation to play the semi-final is always unbelievable."

"The fans will enjoy the Champions League more the further we go. It involves all the best teams in the world."

"Winning the Champions League is always important but at Real Madrid you must win a trophy. They are playing in the semi-final and they still have a chance in the league."

Emilio Butragueño, Madrid director of institutional relations

"Difficult. It's always the same at this stage; all teams are very strong. They have players who are able to win a game on their own. We are very pleased to be here in the semi-final, as our quarter-final tie was really difficult – now we have to play at our highest level otherwise we'll be in trouble."

"It's going to be a very thrilling tie, two entertaining games. Manchester City play attacking football, so do we, so it will be very exciting for fans."

Txiki Begiristain, City director of football
"We know how many times Real Madrid have won the Champions League and been in numerous semi-finals so it is going to be very difficult. We saw how they came back against Wolfsburg, recovering from 2-0 down to win the second leg 3-0. Probably the worst thing for us is playing the second leg at the Bernabéu, a huge stadium with a lot of history in this competition."

"We've done good things in the previous rounds, particularly in the round of 16 and quarter-final where we have been solid and defended well. We know with the players we have in the final third that we can create a lot of chances. We're confident and we will aim to make it very difficult for Real Madrid over the two legs; we want to get to the final in Milan and we know we can do that."