• City face Real Madrid over two legs in February
• ‘We have tougher schedules for the teams in Europe’

Pep Guardiola could not hide his frustration with Manchester City’s fixture schedule in February after being handed a daunting two-legged Champions League playoff tie with Real Madrid.

City’s failure to qualify automatically for the last-16 of the Champions League means they have to face the current holders in order to reach that stage. City will host the first leg on 11 or 12 February before travelling to the Bernabéu on 18 or 19 February.