Real Madrid star descends on Manchester City team hotel after Champions League clash for ‘beers and laughter’

Stars of Real Madrid and Manchester City’s central midfield linked-up at the team hotel of the Premier League champions in the Spanish capital on Wednesday night.

This week brought about the latest damning reflection of where Pep Guardiola’s side currently find themselves as a competitive outfit, slumping to a comfortable 3-1 win for the Spanish giants at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Kylian Mbappe’s hat-trick, which featured an opening goal inside four minutes, sent Manchester City out of the UEFA Champions League before the last-16 stage for the first time since the 2012/13 season with a 6-3 aggregate scoreline between the two clubs.

While the successive battles at various stages of Europe’s premier club competition have built a level of rivalry on and off the pitch between Manchester City and Real Madrid over the years, there was still plenty of respect and affection between the two teams at the full-time whistle.

Television broadcasters captured friendly conversations between the likes of Manchester City goalkeepers Ederson and Real Madrid forward Rodrygo, while a new report has revealed the post-match dinner between two players in the Spanish city.

According to Spanish news outlet El Desmarque, Real Madrid and Croatia star Luka Modric travelled over to City’s team hotel in the Spanish capital after Wednesday night’s clash to have dinner with his friend, former teammate, and fellow countryman, Mateo Kovacic.

It is detailed that the veteran Madrid star arrived at Manchester City’s base at around 1AM local time after Kovacic had returned with his teammates on their club coach, before the pair had plenty of laughter during conversation over a few beers.

Not only have Modric and Kovacic been close friends for the most-part of their professional playing careers on and off the pitch, but they have also shared fond memories during their period at the Santiago Bernabeu together.

The Manchester City midfielder registered over 70 appearances for the Spanish giants between 2015 and 2019 alongside Modric in which the two Croatian giants won numerous UEFA Champions League honours alongside one another.

Kovacic returned to Manchester on Thursday afternoon with the rest of the City squad as they now look to put together the necessary recovery and preparation work ahead of their Premier League clash with Liverpool on Sunday afternoon.