Real Madrid will face Manchester City in a tough revenge to reach the Champions League quarterfinals
Manchester City 1-2 Real Madrid (1-5 on aggregate)
Real Madrid will face either Bayern Munich or Atalanta in the quarterfinals of the Champions League, after seeing off their advantage in the first leg against Manchester City. Alvaro Arbeloa’s side won their second Champions League outing, and he will be satisfied with his side’s display at the Etihad.
High speed indicated the opening trade. In the first minute, if Fede Valverde had used the level of control he did in the first leg, he could have lobbed Gianluigi Donnarumma after coming in behind. In the next two minutes, Rodri Hernandez and Rayan Cherki both forced Thibaut Courtois to save, setting the stage for the game. However, the game took its crucial turn in the 20th minute.
After Vinicius Junior got behind the backline, he cut the thumped post to the right. After the ball was recycled, his effort from the right was blocked on the line by Bernardo Silva, but after a VAR review, it turned out to be his elbow. Offloaded, Vinicius converted his second penalty of the tie, rolling it to Donnarumma’s left.
In the first minute after the restart, Erling Haaland forced a good save from Courtois inside the six-yard box, before Vinicius escaped with no result in the attack. Breathing his way past Ruben Dias, he blazed over the bar. Some of the tension was gone at this point, as the home crowd accepted the dismissal, and the true faith left the field. Just before the break, Haaland finally got on the score sheet. Jeremy Doku, a constant problem on the left, beat Thiago Pitarch, and Trent Alexander-Arnold could not clear the cross, allowing Haaland to meet at the far post.
Brahim Diaz went close after leaving Ruben Dias down, and forced a save from Donnarumma. Even the break was amazing. Thibaut Courtois was replaced by Andriy Lunin at Real Madrid, while Pep Guardiola sent on Marc Guehi and Nathan Ake for Dias and Tijjani Reijnders.
Real Madrid’s coast in the second half
Throughout the game, City had possession and never went more than five minutes without creating a chance. At the same time, Real Madrid relished the opportunity to release Vinicius Junior in space. There was comfort with Los Blancos, knowing they were opening up clear spaces to cause enough problems for Manchester City.
Haaland forced two more saves from Lunin, but straight at him, and between the Norwegians, Rodri and Cherki, the clinical edge City needed to make the game was lacking. The sign that Pep Guardiola removed Haaland with half an hour to go. Another key change was Kylian Mbappe, who came on with 20 minutes left and six minutes left. The Frenchman showed no signs of rust when he raced past Rayan Ait-Nouri on the halfway line, but was unlucky not to receive a penalty after his shirt was pulled. In a sign of how open the game was, Valverde, Vinicius and Doku were all denied goals in the second half.
All in all, Real Madrid will have to be happy with the relief in the second leg which looked difficult from the start. Arbeloa’s side were far from water at the back, and defending deep was not entirely effective, given the number of good chances City failed to convert. However, what dangers they faced, were more than Arda Guler’s drop serve, Valverde’s explosiveness and Vinicius’ blazing speed. Los Blancos will face Bayern Munich or Atalanta in the quarter-finals, the Bavarian team is up 6-1 in the first leg.
