Steve Nicol has shared his thoughts on whether he thinks Real Madrid will be a better team than Manchester City with Kylian Mbappe in their side.
Earlier this week, the Spanish club, who recently won their 15th Champions League title, announced their much-anticipated deal for Mbappe on a free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain.
As City won their sixth Premier League title in seven years and became the first side to win four in a row this season, Carlo Ancelotti also crowned themselves Spanish champions once again, ending their campaign with 95 points on the board.
Even though the Spanish club knocked the Citizens out of the Champions League in the quarter-final stage, one pundit has dropped an interesting claim about how he views the two sides, even though Real have added Mbappe to their squad.
Steve Nicol says he’d back Man City to beat Kylian Mbappe’s Real Madrid
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Speaking in a recent video shared on the ESPN FC YouTube channel, Nicol had this to say when asked who he thinks is a better team out of the current City side and Real with Mbappe.
He said: “Manchester City. On paper, Real Madrid are scary. But, unfortunately, the game is not played on paper.
“You’ve got to actually put it all together and we know exactly what City is all about. We don’t quite know what Real Madrid are all about with Mbappe.
“I still, right now, if there’s a game tomorrow, I would fancy City.”
City dominated Real in the Champions League this season
In the two meetings between the two sides in the Champions League this season, both games ended in draws, with Real getting through to the semi-finals by beating the Manchester club on penalties in the second-leg clash at the Etihad Stadium.
Across the 120 minutes in that game, which ended with a 1-1 scoreline, Pep Guardiola’s side had 67% possession and racked up 33 attempts at goal in total.
Even though Real have now secured the signing of Mbappe, who scored 256 goals in 308 games for PSG, it’s understandable why Nicol thinks the experience City have of being a consistent unit for such a long period of time could give them the edge over what next season’s iteration of Real could look like.