Vincent Kompany: We want to close gap on Real Madrid

Manchester City defender Vicent Kompany has said he wants his side to show they have bridged the gap between themselves and Europe’s top sides when they take on Real Madrid next month.

The Citizens will meet Los Blancos in a friendly in the Australian city of Melbourne as part of their pre-season preparations ahead of an important season for Manuel Pellegrini and his men as they look to win back major honours having missed out last time round.

Real and City met in the Champions League group stages in 2012/13 with Los Blancos getting the better of the sides then. And while City are now established as one of the leading Premier League sides, they have yet to make a mark in the Champions League.

Speaking to the Manchester City website, Kompany said while pre-season results aren’t that important, he wants to show City can compete with the big guns.

“You want to measure your level at that time. I wouldn’t take too much from the result but you always see some young players come through in those (pre-season) games, you see a different shape, different players standing up, so it’s always an exciting time, and for the fans as you see how the team is shaping up for the new season,” he commented.

And he continued: “Ever since I’ve been at the club we’ve always tried to make the gap between the top clubs like Real Madrid smaller and in some way achieved it, but it’d be nice now to bridge that gap.”