After a breathtaking late drama in Etihad, Real Madrid will lead a 3-2 lead of her play-off tie in the Champions League with Manchester City.
The hosts were impressive in the first half and looked as if they were praising a 2-1 lead in the Bernabeu before the return games, but Pep Guardiola’s side conspired to collapse late when they made Madrid possible To steal victory.
Brahim Diaz and Jew Bellingham were the deceased goal scorers of the visitors, who are now big favorites to get into the 16th round.
How the game unfolds
“It is a nightmare that prepares for games against him because he always has ideas that make her think,” remarked Carlo Ancelotti before playing and spoke of Guardiola. With his team selection on Tuesday evening, the boss of Man City certainly raised the eyebrows and chose five centers when he chose John Stones to repeat his role in midfield via Mateo Kovacic and Ilkay Gundogan.
The Etihad was quite pathological two weeks ago for a must against Club Brugge, but here there was undoubtedly a greater feeling of occasion with the owners in the city. An electrical atmosphere was supported by a hectic opening of the competition, as City is a threat every time they collected dynamics.
The hosts should have had at an early stage when Madrid played through the city to improve Kylian Mbappe’s first shot in the finish of the night before Ferland Mendy was professionally blocked by Nathan Ake.
Madrid’s lack of blow in front of the goal quickly turned out to be expensive when City preliminary bid after his own sparkling sequence. The highlight was Erling Haaland’s first goal against the multi -year European champions. Guardiola’s team stood up and, thanks to their overload in central areas and more measured approaches without the ball that limited Madrid’s moments in the freedom.
The replacement of Phil Foden, who entered the fight for Jack Grialish, tested Thibaut Courtois with a violent effort of range and Manuel Akanji pressed the latte with a header from a set piece. However, City did not add her lead, and Madrid came strong to end an excellent first half with the majestic fours.
Mbappe should have compensated when he was all alone on the left side of City’s box, but his first effort was wild.
The hosts were awarded for a large part of the opening time, but there was a feeling of inevitable in relation to Madrid’s equalizer at the beginning of the second half. Jude Bellingham displaced a header, and Mbappe Eierson forced another rescue before the French finally restored parity with a sliced volleye that hesitated to kiss the back of the city network.
It looked like City was fading, but Madrid could not grasp the swing after the leveler. The Sting dissolved from the competition and the hosts took advantage of it when Dani Cemballos fell against Foden and forced Clement Turpin to point to the square. Haaland has his second and that would have been …
Unfortunately, the city invented to give up its advantage with an inexplicable final. The sequence that led to Brahim Diaz ‘Levelerer started a poor special clearance before Vinicius Junior broke down, and pushed an unit faith over the goalkeeper of the city city, which made it possible to bring Bellingham home to bring a winner of the replicas to bring home.
Take a look at the reviews of Man City with 2-3 Real Madrid players.
Manchester City had at least four central defenders in their highest team. Guardiola selected five on Wednesday evening and the Spaniard’s trick paid off in the first half.
The City set-up had a vintage shimmer, with Guardiola decided on a 2-3-5 form on the ball, which concentrated on the two full-backs and supported John Stones in midfield as soon as the property was changed . The positioning of Manuel Akanji and Josko Gvardiol also helped the hosts to confuse a typically disregarding Madrid press and enable stones to determine the process from the middle of the park.
City had “free eight” in the half-spaces, with Kevin de Bruyne Madrid’s midfielder moving away from the center and lung busting runs. It was vintage stuff, and the work rate of the Belgian would not have been unnoticed. The hosts did not press MAN-to-Man, but de Bruyne played an important role in the dissolution of Madrid to Himmelblue corners.
However, their efforts to avoid a terrifying quartet seemed to demand his tribute, and Madrid could finally change the swing. Dani Ceballos drove into the territory of Toni Kroos, which improved Madrid’s structure, and made sure that they access their superstars much more often in the second half. Maybe Pep has too much control without giving up the ball?
When they remember, Vinicius Junior and Madrid made a bit of excitement about the Rodri of Manchester City, who claimed his first balloon d’E or over the Brazilian, and the faithful of Etihad wanted to remind the poultry of the Spaniard’s individual fame.
“Stop cheating out,” read a considerable banner with a picture of Rodri who kisses the golden ball, and undoubtedly mocked the Madrid superstar, who absolutely has to give the city fans through the medium of a master class.
And although there was no Vini JR spectacle, the Brazilian ultimately had the last laugh. The early jers who welcomed him faded when the city of the city remembered how good it was in the sport, and although the winger did not take over the competition, he played a crucial role in Madrid and won the first leg.
It was his shot that was directed in Brahim Diaz for the equalization, and he will claim support for a bad effort by Ederson, which made it possible to overthrow Bellingham.
There were some compromises in Guardiola’s principles, but the decision was necessary to defend the counterattack by the recent horrors of the city. If Madrid had been deleted in the structure, but the hosts would have been delivered to a destructive front four, which had enough pleasure on a more measured city scene approach.
The hosts worked so hard to take the lead in the first half and suffocated the dynamics of Madrid to the equalizer, with the moment deserved, which was to lead to taking 2: 1 in the second leg.
Again City threw a strength of the strength in the Champions League. We saw an early lead at Sporting CP with style, a 3-0 advantage for Feyenoord in 15 minutes and a 2-0 lead at PSG. They were 2-1 on Tuesday evening with less than five games and lost 3: 2.
This is the fifth time that City has lost a game that you managed this season – you have only given up five winning positions in the last four seasons.