England vs Brazil can help Man City set their plan for Real Madrid
Pep Guardiola won't have had much interest in the international games taking place at the minute.
The Manchester City manager made clear to his players before they left the Etihad that they need to prioritise club fixtures until the end of the season as the Blues look to go all the way again in three competitions. He will have been delighted by Roberto Martinez's decision to release Bernardo Silva and Ruben Dias early so they can rest up.
Some matches can still have their uses though. Matheus Nunes will have taken confidence from scoring for Portugal, and England vs Brazil on Saturday night offers a chance to test a key battle for their Champions League quarter-final with Real Madrid.
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Guardiola may have said that Real are a different team this season with Jude Bellingham, but it would be remiss of the Premier League champions to dismiss their other threats. Vinicius Jr put them on the back foot at the Bernabeu last season with a scorching effort, but was otherwise well shackled by Kyle Walker over the 180 minutes as City ran out 5-1 winners overall.
The pair embraced at the end of the first leg in what was seen as a mutual respect for their duel, although Walker later joked that he had gone over with a message. "I went to hug him because he tried to rainbow flick me, so it was like 'please don’t try that again, I don't want to be a meme or anything!'" he said.
If that game marked the high point of Walker's season, one of his lowest was being left out of the Champions League final. Guardiola insisted it was just down to the specific skills of Inter that made him opt for
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