5 reasons why this season's Champions League final could be an El Clasico

#3 Nobody knows Guardiola better

Former Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola now manages a Champions League rival - Manchester City

While Tottenham are now out of the Champions League and Barcelona may well eliminate Chelsea next week, perhaps the biggest challenge to the Spanish dominance of the competition could come from England, particularly in the form of Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City. City are running away with the Premier League right now and have looked impressive in Europe too, winning 5 of their group games and then defeating Basel on aggregate to make the quarter-finals.

If anyone knows how to stop a Pep Guardiola side, though, it’s his old club Barcelona and his old rivals from his Barca days, Real Madrid.

His record against Real was impressive while he was at Barcelona – 9 wins, 4 draws and just 2 defeats. Since leaving Barca though he’s only faced Los Blancos twice – in a two-legged Champions League semi-final with Bayern Munich in 2013/14 – and it didn’t go well. Bayern were defeated 5-0 on aggregate and Pep lost his first game at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Since leaving Barca, meanwhile, he’s only managed a side against them in two games – again over two legs in the Champions League. This time, in 2014/15, his Bayern side lost 5-3 on aggregate, and although they defeated Barca at the Allianz Arena, they were beaten badly at the Nou Camp – losing 2-0 and failing to gain a shot on target.

Could Pep’s City team beat Real or Barcelona this season? They have the attacking firepower to do so, but Pep himself has recently admitted that he doesn’t see his current side as being on the same level as Barca yet, and while he does have a good record against Real, if any side has learned to play against his tactics it’s his old rivals.