The legendary Champions League survivors destroyed Manchester City’s hopes of winning a treble, and Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti walked away from the scene of carnage with a casual demeanor.
As the only player to win this competition four times, Ancelotti has seen it all in football, including plenty of success. Yet, the way in which this quarterfinal triumph was secured may have raised more eyebrows than normal.
The tie finished 4-4 on aggregate, 1-1 on this particular night, but Real triumphed 4-3 on penalties. City will be scratching their heads for a long time about how they lost a game that they dominated virtually entirely.
Champions League suffering has been experienced by City in the past, and there will undoubtedly be wounds from the way this frenetic, compelling game was lost.
The immediate task for manager Pep Guardiola is to make sure the fatigue and disappointment left behind here does not spill over into what is now a quest for a domestic double of the Premier League and FA Cup, with a semi-final against Chelsea in the latter at Wembley on Saturday.
The great Italian statesman Ancelotti consoled Guardiola at the end of the match, creating the false appearance that this was simply another routine workday rather than a tense, tumultuous exchange.
As Antonio Rudiger’s penalty put City in the semi-finals against Bayern Munich, the players at City fell silent in anguish, and in the distant part of Etihad Stadium, it appeared as though scores of Real players and officials were making their way to their supporters.
In the previous season, City defeated Real 4-0 in this location during the second leg of the semi-final; Ancelotti’s team managed to win at the Bernabeu at the same stage of the previous campaign after somehow overcoming the deficit with two goals in stoppage time.
Real had seven shots against City’s sixteen throughout that crushing last term; here they had 33 shots to the visitors’ eight, but this time came out on the losing end.
It came down, as it always does at this level, to the finest details, and City’s lack of cutting edge stood between them and the victory they deserved on the balance of play.
They even had the early edge on penalties when Ederson saved from Luka Modric, but only Bernardo Silva will know what he was thinking when he lazily lofted a dismal spot-kick straight into the hands of keeper Andriy Lunin.
If you give Real an inch, they take a mile. Mateo Kovacic’s penalty was again saved by the excellent Lunin, further sealing their fate.
City broke the Champions League golden rule twice, pinning Real back with a sustained assault in the second half. Kevin De Bruyne’s 76th-minute equaliser cancelled out Rodrygo’s early strike, and Real were eventually rewarded with the final whistle and penalties. City’s players have shown resilience and staying power before, but their exit and loss of the giant trophy they won for the first time against Inter Milan in Istanbul last season will be a bitter pill to swallow. Guardiola admitted that De Bruyne and Erling Haaland told him they could not continue, with Haaland being kept at arm’s length by Real’s battle-hardened defence.
Real and England’s Jude Bellingham had a testing night, suffering just as much as their team-mates. Bellingham twice demonstrated why he is marked down for greatness, pulling a pass out of the sky in the build-up to Rodrygo’s goal and stepping forward to coolly slot home Real’s second penalty after Modric’s miss. Real go on to claim their 15th win in the tournament’s different guises, such as the European Cup and Champions League, giving Ancelotti his fifth triumph.
(BBC)
