Manchester City defender Aleksandar Kolarov has stated that he is confident that his side can beat Real Madrid in the Champions League, and is eyeing a personal battle with Cristiano Ronaldo.

The left-back kept Tottenham winger Gareth Bale quiet in Serbia’s 6-1 thumping of Wales on Tuesday and the eastern European defender is in confident mood.

“I know about Bale from the Premier League, I’ve played against him before and I know how good he is,” Kolarov told The Sun.

“But we kept him quiet. He scored a great free-kick but, apart from that, we did not have many problems.

“Ronaldo is something different. He’s a special player — with Messi, he is the best player in the world. So to play against someone like that will be a big test.

“He played for Manchester United, too, so he will want to score against us.

“But I’ll be confident because City can go to Madrid with confidence. It should be a great night for the club.

“We are the champions of England and they will know it will not be an easy night for them as well.

“First, we have Stoke on Saturday, then Madrid and Arsenal. So it’s a really big week for City. They will be three very different games.

“We want to do better in the Champions League and qualify but again we have been given a really tough group.

“This time we need to start better than we did last year but everyone at the club is looking forward to it,” he concluded.