Federico Valverde has given his thoughts on which team out of Real Madrid or Manchester City came into the second leg playing better football.

In a sense, Valverde is referring to which team has played a superior brand of football for much of the season.

The reason why that can be claimed is that unlike Real Madrid, Manchester City have not dominated their league this season.

On Wednesday, it seemed like the easy answer was Pep Guardiola’s men at the Etihad Stadium.

The statistics certainly do not lie, as per the Champions League’s official website.

In comparison to Real Madrid, who created 19 attacks, Manchester City created 120.

MORE MAN CITY STORIES

As for both teams’ shots, the visitors took eight while the hosts attempted 34.

The Sky Blues also made 865 passes in comparison to the Spanish giants’ 402 on the night.

A peek at the statistics are enough to indicate that City bossed proceedings against Carlo Ancelotti’s side.

However, football is not played on a stat sheet.

Ultimately, the game is a results business.

The Spanish giants capitalised and got over the finish line and for that, they deserve all the credit that is coming their way.

However, it would be harsh to be too critical of City as they performed well enough to win and ultimately, luck plays a huge factor in which teams wins a penalty shootout.

Federico Valverde admitted after the game that Manchester City were playing better football than Real Madrid coming into the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final.

“Madrid always deliver, that’s part of football. The opposition came into the game stronger, playing better football than us and were favourites. But we are Madrid and we dug in, defended well and fought hard. That’s how we won the game”, he said [via Real Madrid’s official website].

The admission from Valverde is telling

For starters, the fact that Real Madrid midfielder Federico Valverde made such an admission shows how respected Manchester City are by some of the best players in the world.

Often, a player who plays for a club of Los Merengues’ stature might not hold their hands up and say that another team has played better football than them.

But Valverde did and in our view, he merits respect for his honesty.

Simultaneously, the Uruguayan’s admission is also proof that Real Madrid, has a single-minded aim of winning and while the mentality at City is similar, they also focus on how they wish to play a lot more than their European adversaries.

This mindset towards football just stems from a difference in culture between the two clubs.