Madrid & City share a thriller at the Bernabeu

A six-goal thriller was evenly shared at the Bernabeu with some absolute screamers creating what could be an all-time classic between Real Madrid and Manchester City in the second-leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final at the Etihad Stadium next week. 

LINEUPS 

RMA XI: Lunin; Carvajal*, Tchouameni, Rudiger, Mendy; Kroos; Valverde, Camavinga; Bellingham; Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo

RMA SUBS: Fran Gonzalez, Arrizabalaga, Eder Militao, Nacho Fernandez, Fran Garcia, Modric, Ceballos, Lucas Vazquez, Brahim Diaz, Guler, Joselu

MCI XI: Ortega; Akanji, Stones, Ruben Dias*, Gvardiol; Rodri, Kovacic; Foden, Bernardo Silva, Grealish; Haaland

MCI SUBS: Ederson, Carson, Lewis, Sergio Gomez, Susoho, Nunes, De Bruyne, Bobb, Doku, Alvarez

Action: In a repeat of last season’s semi-final, we had drama within the opening couple of minutes at the Bernabeu as Jack Grealish immediately drew a foul from Aurelien Tchouameni with the Frenchman receiving a yellow card that means he is suspended for next week’s second-leg at the Etihad Stadium

From the resulting free-kick, Bernardo Silva stepped up in what was a fairly obvious crossing position but decided to deceive goalkeeper Andriy Lunin by whipping hard and low around the wall and into the bottom corner at the near post to give Manchester City an early lead.

That lead, though, did not last long as Real Madrid equalised in the 12th minute. Eduardo Camavinga, from around 30 yards, unleashed an effort that was heavily deflected off Ruben Dias and wrong-footed Stefan Ortega into the City goal with it eventually going down as a Ruben Dias own goal.

Within a couple of minutes of that, Madrid had taken the lead themselves as Rodrygo found himself bursting in behind Manuel Akanji before eventually being held up by the Switzerland international defender. Rodrygo composed himself before very cooly poking past Ortega and putting Los Blancos into the lead.

The rest of the half followed a similar pattern with Real Madrid sitting back and simply soaking up what was fairly tame Manchester City pressure with the Cityzens dominating possession without much incision. That was combined with an occasional flurry forward from the hosts led by Rodrygo, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham but neither side created a real clear cut chance for the rest of the half. 

The pattern of play that was happening at the end of the first-half continued in the second period with City dominating the ball but Madrid looking the more threatening on the break.

Bellingham went close when he twisted and turned both Bernardo Silva and John Stones inside out before dragging a left footed effort wide of the goal. Vinicius Junior was sent through by Rodrygo before blasting over the bar on his left foot. 

However, as Madrid looked the most likely, the game swung once again when Phil Foden received a pass just outside of the box from Ruben Dias and arrowed a rasping effort straight into the top corner. 

Then, just a few minutes later, the visitors turned the game back on its head when Jack Grealish squared up Dani Carvajal before laying off to Josko Gvardiol. The Croat international had a fairly loose touch but with a swinger on his weaker right foot, nailed the ball into the bottom corner from around 25 yards. 

2' ⚽️ Real Madrid 0-1 𝗠𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗶𝘁𝘆
12' ⚽️ 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗮𝗱𝗿𝗶𝗱 1-1 Man City
14' ⚽️ 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗮𝗱𝗿𝗶𝗱 2-1 Man City
66' ⚽️ Real Madrid 2-2 𝗠𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗶𝘁𝘆
71' ⚽️ Real Madrid 2-3 𝗠𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗶𝘁𝘆

GVARDIOL SCORES AND MAN CITY LEAD 🔥#UCL pic.twitter.com/8i31nBBQ1K

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 9, 2024

That was not to be that, though, with Madrid bringing themselves back level with over ten minutes of normal time to go as Vinicius Junior pin point picked out Uruguayan midfielder Fede Valverde and he arrowed a right footed volley into the bottom corner across goal.

There was not to be a seventh goal on the night but we now head to the Etihad Stadium next week for a decider of what has started out as an all-time classic of a UEFA Champions League quarter-final tie. 

The big picture: Real Madrid went to the Etihad Stadium on level terms after the first-leg of their semi-final last season but were simply blown away by Manchester City in east Manchester.  This time around, though, Los Blancos appear much more of a threat to City’s defence and, quite frankly, who knows what will happen next week. In the meantime, Madrid travel to the Balearic Islands to face Real Mallorca on Saturday, whilst City host Luton Town.

Man of the match: Jack Grealish. The Englishman has had a poor season but the left-side of City’s attack dominated proceedings this evening as all the play went through the former Aston Villa man.

Expected goals: Real Madrid (0.70) 3-3 (0.88) Manchester City

EVENTS

Kick-off

‘2 | GOAL: Bernardo Silva (0-1)

’12 | GOAL: Camavinga (1-1)

’14 | GOAL: Rodrygo (2-1)

Half-time

’66 | GOAL: Foden (2-2)

’71 | GOAL: Gvardiol (2-3) 

’79 | GOAL: Valverde (3-3)

Full-time