Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City will travel to the Spanish capital on Tuesday evening to take on reigning champions Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final.

Wayne Rooney believes Manchester City will ‘fly’ Real Madrid in the Champions League… but Gary Neville is not so sure.

City face Real in the semi-finals of this season’s tournament, with the first leg taking place at the Bernabeu on Tuesday night. Pep Guardiola’s side go into the European clash in superb form having won 10 Premier League games in a row.

Meanwhile, Real slipped to third in LaLiga having lost two of their previous three league outings. Despite their contrasting performances, Neville believes the semi-finals will be much closer than Rooney thought, particularly Tuesday night’s game in the Spanish capital.

Writing in his column for The Times, Rooney claimed: “Manchester City wouldn’t just beat Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals – they would beat them.

“Of course, I could be wrong. No team has been better at arguing against them than Carlo Ancelotti’s Madrid in the Champions League. But I just think City are so good they are on another level.”

Neville saw Rooney’s prediction on Twitter and was happy to share his opinion. The former Manchester United captain wrote: “I’m not sure I agree they will beat them in Madrid but I think they can do it at the Etihad. I think City will win over two legs!”

City are the favorites to win the Champions League this season thanks to their excellent form. They are top of the Premier League table, one point clear of second-placed Arsenal with one game remaining, and need to win only three of their last four to retain their crown.

They have also reached the FA Cup final at Wembley, where they will face Man Utd on June 3. If City can beat Real, they will face either AC Milan or Inter Milan in the final in Istanbul on June 10. chance Guardiola’s side will complete the treble.

As for Real, the reigning European champions have struggled to convince this season. They are 14 points behind Barcelona in the LaLiga title race with just five games remaining.

Yet Real’s European pedigree is unparalleled, with 14 European Cups to their name. Ancelotti’s side have also eliminated two English sides this season at Liverpool and Chelsea, and they beat City in last year’s semi-finals.

Guardiola believes City will win the Champions League one day but is not getting carried away. He told reporters: “We are not here for revenge, we are here for opportunity. What happened, happened in the past. It would be a big mistake to even think about that.”

Guardiola added: “One day we will get it. We will reach the final and we will win it. We came here this season to do it… To win this competition you have to beat the best teams and Madrid are the best.” team in this competition in the last decade.”