Pep Guardiola admits Manchester City deserve their tough task in the UEFA Champions League playoffs after underperforming in the competition's new league-phase format.
The Premier League champions need to beat Real Madrid - the holders and record 15-time winners - over two legs, playing the second leg away in Spain, if they are to join Arsenal, Aston Villa and Liverpool in the last 16 of the competition.
They have been handed that challenge because they finished 22nd in a table of 36 European teams, picking up only 11 points - 10 fewer than first-placed Liverpool - from a possible 24. Real Madrid ended the league phase in 11th place with 15 points, one point short of automatic qualification for the next round.
But Guardiola is not fazed by facing Carlo Ancelotti's current La Liga leaders, insisting that he has a plan to beat them, and backing his team to prove they have "something special" in Tuesday's first leg.
"In football you have to deserve [success]," said Guardiola at his pre-match press conference.
"We did not deserve it. We were not even close. That’s why, when the draw was either Bayern Munich or Real Madrid, I thought that is what we deserve.
"It is always better to have a second leg at home, in case you have extra time with your [fans]. We play the second game away because we were not good. When you finish 22nd you cannot ask for any favours.
"We are where we are, and I know perfectly, but the team has something special and hopefully tomorrow we can prove it.
"I know the game plan tomorrow. I still have doubts about the selection - we still have injuries. But I am always optimistic and calm. We will see what happens."
'We have not been stable'
Guardiola continued: “Of course [going through] it would be important. We would be in the next round."
But he conceded that his team have been inconsistent and he is unsure whether what was once a "machine" will deliver a performance on Tuesday night.
“This season we were unstable and we were not unstable in the past," he said. “When we achieved trebles and quadruples, we were a machine.
"This season, we struggled a lot. Of course it would be good to continue for the club, for the prestige, to win this competition. In the past the team is consistent, we can do it. Now it’s like, I don’t know."
City v Real Madrid - The story so far
This is the sixth time the clubs have been drawn against each other in a knockout round in the past nine years.
Real Madrid have won three of the previous five ties, including last season's quarter-finals, when they triumphed in a penalty shootout en route to lifting the trophy.
When the clubs first met, in the group stage of 2012/13, Real Madrid won 3-2 at home and drew 1-1 in Manchester. City, then managed by Roberto Mancini, finished bottom of Group D while the Spanish club progressed as runners-up.
Who do City play after each leg?
Four days after Tuesday's first leg at the Etihad Stadium, Man City will be at home again, in the Premier League, with top-four rivals Newcastle United the visitors for Saturday's 15:00 GMT kick-off.
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The second leg against Real Madrid will be played at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium next Wednesday, 19 February, four days before Man City host league leaders Liverpool in another blockbuster match.
Ominously for Guardiola's side, they have lost four of the last five Premier League games that have directly followed their Champions League matches this season, including defeats to huge rivals Liverpool (2-0), Manchester United (2-1) and Arsenal (5-1).