He. She he was there. It was within their reach. So close, they can almost feel it. Very soon, they can photograph the stadium, which is decorated in cyan and red on May 28. Liverpool vs…
clings. This is where the dream died. Manchester City will not be in Paris, where they will form a third all-English final in four years. Real Madrid will face Liverpool, perhaps on the brink of a quadruple if this will suck the life out of the title race as much as possible.
This was simply a devastating defeat for Manchester City. Not just his score but his style. For Real Madrid, this was not a comeback but a resurrection. It was on the Manchester United scale at the Nou Camp, 1999. Real Madrid were 5-3 behind on aggregate in the last minute of regular time. And 6-5 after five minutes of extra time that resulted from the incredible resistance. This was the first time they had topped both lists in full: the 185th minute of the match.
Real Madrid qualified for the Champions League final on Wednesday evening in a dramatic fashion
Real Madrid’s 3-1 win over Manchester City at the Santiago Bernabéu saw them win 6-5 on aggregate.
As a result, Manchester City are out of the competition and will not face Liverpool in the final later this month
Manchester City in Europe. What will become of them? Nothing simple at all. Nothing direct. How did they lose this, after playing so well at night? One minute before Real Madrid scored, Jack Grealish, as a substitute, had two chances to put the score beyond doubt. The first was pushed off the line, and the second was sent wide by a simple Thibaut Courtois touch into the net. And then they went out. They silenced the Bernabeu, and the match was as good as the win. And then it wasn’t. As a former player once asked: Why are they always?
Yet the Real Madrid is also credited. Trust them to never know when they’re being hit. It was a heroic display of consistency, and he snatched it away from City with two goals from substitute Rodrygo. Coming with Toni Kroos with the goalless match he was the inspiration for. One goal in the last minute for what looked like consolation in the sidelines, then a minute later to turn the tie upside down. The city was stunned. They were the better side in almost every one of this confrontation. How can this be?
Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez opened the scoring on Wednesday evening by scoring in the 73rd minute
Manchester City dominated the match and looked as if they secured their place in the final
Oh, be. Karim Benzema, who had been quiet most of the night, kept a cross from the left side of the penalty area for the first time for Rodrygo – Ederson hit the ball with his outstretched foot. For the second, Marco Asensio crossed Dani Carvajal’s cross and the Brazilian striker rose above the now shaky defense and headed past Ederson. just awesome.
The worst was to come. Extra time had barely begun when Ruben Dias awkwardly entered on Benzema, and Italian referee Daniele Orsato signaled a penalty. Until now, the city was in shock and chaos. Madrid is a jubilant Champions League goddess. There is no Panenka for Benzema this time. Nothing clever or fancy. He hit it low to Ederson’s left, giving him no chance. There was hardly a peep out of town after that. They are finished. There is just something about this competition and Madrid. Liverpool itself. The series’ finalists, a pair of them. He still holds the most painful memories of City’s fondness.
So was it another classic, like the first leg? Not completely. The period when Real Madrid came back to life aside, this was a pretty tough game, with few chances. It looked as if a City goal would be set 17 minutes before the end, which gave Manchester City a two-goal lead on aggregate. This coincided with a spell in which the hosts began to experience the first signs of self-doubt. The streets around the Bernabeu were noisy and crowded before the match, and the noise inside was deafening. A giant banner of Benzema’s spell has been revealed.
Manchester City maintained the lead until the 90th minute of the match when Rodrygo (on the ball) scored a stunning equalizer.
Rodrygo then put the LaLiga giants ahead and equalized on aggregate by scoring again just a minute later – making the score 2-1.
But as play continued, City’s defense force increasingly came to the fore. This is the team that we saw in this city last month, against Atlético. Benzema was barely paying off. Ederson barely had a serious save until the match was nearly over. Playing through the pain barrier, Kyle Walker was so great against Vinicius Jr that he came off limping with 20 minutes left. He couldn’t do anything more, and his fast wing handling was amazing. It happened in full force and on the slide and in the penalty area. The slightest miscalculation can be fatal.
Guardiola was doing what seemed reasonable, and had changes. Ilkay Gundogan for Kevin De Bruyne was one. A negative draw was enough. What we have, we have. Of course they lost De Bruyne later, but hindsight is a cool thing. At the time, the Bernabéu was under control. Then, after making changes to support the match, City scored a goal.
What a preparation Bernardo Silva. He ran in the middle of the road, turning the Bernabeu, attracting opponents, creating space. Gabriel Jesus was playing and saw the clear ball. But this is City, so Silva ignored it and went on to something more difficult. Teleportation, he felt Mahrez arriving like a train. Jesus refused and played him instead. Mahrez’s shot was very powerful and it didn’t matter that it was relatively close to Courtois in goal. He was powerless to prevent it. This was Mahrez’s seventh in the competition, a record for City in the Champions League. Not that anyone will remember that now.
The match went into overtime and gave Manchester City 30 minutes to keep their Champions League dream alive
However, Ruben Dias clumsily went to Benzema and missed a penalty – which the striker took on the lower right.
Some think that being Real Madrid manager is just a case of getting 11 players on the field and letting them fly; Carlo Ancelotti’s laid-back demeanor is the result of living on an easy street. This was a match that showed why the coach had the Real Madrid party. It is not easy to play the best teams in the world. It is not easy to match Pep Guardiola and Manchester City. And Ancelotti is not the passive presence he sometimes seems. Several times in the first half he gave a couple of very inaccurate cues – arms outstretched in the WTF’s world-class gesture when passes went astray or the ball was rolling into space – and gradually Madrid’s ambition grew.
Look, if you didn’t drive to overtime in the second leg, you ditched one, and Ancelotti will know that. However, his team remained in the match. They stayed close enough to win it in the end, and that’s up to him. De Bruyne was sacked because Real Madrid largely nullified him. Ancelotti used Luka Modric to stop Rodri taking the ball out from behind. Mahrez’s impact was limited to goal. It would be wrong to say that Real Madrid was lucky. In parts, this was a very professional performance.
As in Manchester, City had a chance to put Real Madrid under great pressure in the first half. They pushed for a two-goal lead in the first leg but this was more cautious. There was no shock and awe, but Silva could have made a huge impact. In the 20th minute, Phil Foden won the ball to his right and Rodri knocked out De Bruyne, who quickly passed the ball to Silva. The angle was tight but Silva hit the ball well and Courtois did a great job keeping it off.
There were a lot of needles, too. Only eight minutes passed and referee Orsato Emeric Laporte and Modric booked after a heated confrontation. Laporte seemed to throw a slap and then fall to the ground, as if from a bounce. It was all really laughable, but not the kind of behavior that Guardiola would have found amusing. His midfield booked up very soon and Benzema on the tour. It was an early sign of indiscipline. When City reviews what could have been, keeping heads will likely be high on the agenda.
Real Madrid were delighted with the result and immediately started celebrating with each other when the final whistle went off
As a result, Manchester City failed to secure a place in the Champions League final in Paris later this month
Relive the events as they happened with Sportsmail’s coverage of the Champions League semi-final second leg between Real Madrid and Manchester City.
