jackpot partyJack Grealish was substituted early in Manchester City's first-leg loss to Real Madrid Jack Grealish was substituted early in Manchester City's first-leg loss to Real Madrid

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has outlined his hope that Jack Grealish can rediscover his consistency before the end of the seasonmanaloplay, having endured a difficult couple of years. (More Football News)

Grealish has made 24 appearances across all competitions for City this season, but just 13 of those have been starts and he has only scored twice – against Salford City in the FA Cup and Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.

His downturn extends to last season, when he only made 26 starts and scored three goals, ultimately being dropped from Gareth Southgate's England squad for Euro 2024.

The former Aston Villa man – who was a key player when City won the treble in 2022-23 – has struggled with a hip injury in recent days but has travelled to Spain for Wednesday's do-or-die Champions League meeting with Real Madrid.

He was substituted in the early stages of last week's first leg, when City held 1-0 and 2-1 leads but succumbed to a 3-2 defeat.

Asked why Grealish missed Saturday's 4-0 win over Newcastle United, Guardiola said: "He is able to play a really good game like in the FA Cup, but not the consistency to play every week with three games.

"It is the same with six games in two weeks. He was not able to do it, but hopefully in the three and a half months we have before the end of the season, he can get it."

PEP  [On Jack Grealish] He was able to play a really good game in the FA Cup but he doesn’t have the consistency to play three games a week, he was not able to do it. Hopefully, now, he is able to for the last few months of the season he can get it. pic.twitter.com/f1w81xJ2tf

— Manchester City (@ManCity) February 18, 2025

City were eliminated from the Champions League by Real Madrid last season, firing off 33 shots in a 1-1 home draw with Los Blancos in the second leg before losing on penalties.

Bernardo Silva was one of two City players to be denied by Andriy Lunin in that shoot-out, seeing his tame Panenka attempt caught by Madrid's stand-in goalkeeper.

But he would not flinch if asked to take another spot-kick,ff777 saying: "Definitely, I would put my hand up.

"You can only miss a penalty if you take it. The keeper was waiting for it down the middle. I have no regrets.

South Korea, meanwhile, are placed fourth in the standings with 6 points, with one win, three draws, and one loss. They were surpassed by China, who secured 2 wins and as many points. Korea’s season began with a 5-5 draw against Japan, followed by a 2-2 draw with Pakistan, their first victory with a 3-2 win over China, 3-1 loss at the hands of India and a 3-3 draw against Malaysia in their final pool match.

Chen Benhai gave the hosts the lead with a fine field goal in the first quarter following an enterprising team move. But the highlight of the match was Chao Jieming's sensational solo effort in the second quarter.

"If it has to go to penalties, we'll do our best and qualify. We know that people we're speaking 50-50 at the start and maybe now Madrid are favourites. 

"We have much tougher work to do, but we believe we can make things difficult. They have a lot of weapons to hurt us.

"A team is never perfect; Madrid, City, there is no perfect team. There's always a way to find weaknesses. There are things they don't do that well. 

"It's about finding the way to bring the game to a place we feel more comfortable with. You'll always suffermanaloplay, we'll try to suffer as little as possible."