Man City manager Pep Guardiola laments Real Madrid's superior advantage

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has acknowledged that he must learn to cope with the demanding fixture schedule that will give Real Madrid an extra day's rest for the second leg of their Champions League semi-final. City secured a 1-1 draw in Madrid, thanks to Kevin De Bruyne's remarkable strike from outside the penalty area. Guardiola's squad are now seen as favourites against 14-time Champions League winners Real Madrid, with their unstoppable Premier League winning streak continuing with a 3-0 victory against Everton, which now appears to have sealed their third consecutive Premier League title.

However, success brings an incredibly busy fixture pile-up, which has been intensified this season by the staging of the World Cup in December. Guardiola has long criticised the relentless schedule and has questioned the timing of City's Premier League games.

'It's eleven months working for the Premier League and I don't want to be distracted for (Real) Madrid. I will have time. It's not much time because we play Sunday. Thank you so much,' Guardiola said.

'I don't understand it, but I have to adapt. I'm not going to fight anymore. The schedule is what it is. I'm sure the Premier League wants to help the teams. The problem is the schedule, the number of games there are. I think we cannot play on Saturday because there is Eurovision and there are not enough police to handle two important events at the same time.'

Guardiola was asked whether other leagues offer more help to their teams than the Premier League, to which he replied, "There are a lot of competitions, there are a lot of games in all the calendars. That's the problem, I don't think the problem is La Liga or the Premier League. In Germany or France, they play on Friday and we have to play when they tell us, that's not going to change.

'Now we have five days after only four days. Tomorrow we will see the team, we will talk to the physios and the coaching staff and we will decide. We have a lot of games to play.'

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti rotated several players in the 1-0 win over Getafe, which was played on Saturday, some 18 hours before City's game at Everton. Nevertheless, Los Blancos need to travel, which could level the playing field as City prepare to recuperate and recover before Wednesday's heavyweight clash.