Man City Women: ‘We’re in a better place for the next Real Madrid tie’ says boss Taylor

Laura Coombs and Gareth Taylor are hoping Saturday’s superb WSL victory over Everton can provide Manchester City Women with the momentum to achieve a positive result in the upcoming Champions League clash with Real Madrid.

City host the Spanish on Wednesday in the second leg of their Round Two tie, with the winners moving onto the group stage.

The score is tied 1-1 from the first leg, with Coombs feels was an encouraging result given the circumstances for City.

“We were pretty disappointed last week, especially conceding late on, but I think on reflection, that with the lack of pre-season and the lack of time with the new signings we thought it wasn’t the worst result in the world,” she told reporters during Tuesday’s press conference.

“Then Saturday we’ve gone in and played very well. The energy is really high and it should be really good.”

In comparison to City, Madrid lost 4-0 at the weekend against Levante, although Coombs feels the tie will still be extremely tough.

“I don’t think that means too much,” she said. “Obviously, last week they really brought the game to us at times and I fully expect them to do the same tomorrow because regardless, it’s the Champions League and they really need to go for it to progress.

“We’re expecting another tough test and obviously we’re feeling good going into it after Saturday. I still think we’re going to have to be top of your game to beat them tomorrow.”

City manager Taylor echoed those thoughts and feels the club are in a better position for the second leg than last week’s trip to Spain.

“It’s very even. With the away goals rule being dropped now, it’s completely even,” he opined. “It’s massively important but I think that we’ve probably pulled out the toughest tie that we could have. We’re aware of them as a team.

“We had a good result at the weekend and another game under our belts. There were some good bits and some good momentum that we achieved on Saturday, so I think we’ll be in a better place for the game tomorrow night.”

With a shortened pre-season and several player still injured, Taylor has slightly more limited options at present, although he was delighted to welcome back to players at Goodison Park on Saturday.

“It was a real bonus to get back Georgia [Stanway] and Ellen [White]. I think it really strengthened our options on the sidelines. You want to be able to pick from the biggest poll possible.

“When you do go up against the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal in the league, their squad is a lot larger than ours and they carry a lot more players, so it depends on what the priority is. We want to be successful and getting through to this competition will hopefully give us what we want, which is a game every three or four days.”