On penalties, Real Madrid kicks City out of the Champions League

Madrid. Goodbye to the champion. Manchester City was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Champions League by Real Madrid. The merengue team and Bayern Munich, the two most successful teams in Europe, qualified for the semifinals of the Championsin a couple of games in which the last representatives of the Premier League were eliminated: the Citizenswho lost on penalties, and Arsenal, 1-0.

Without a doubt, the match of the night was the one between Real Madrid, with 14 European Cups in its history, against the most powerful team of the moment, Manchester City, which, in theory, has the most unbalanced players and the coach most valued, Pep Guardiola. The result of the first leg had been a three-way draw, so the two teams came out cautiously in the first minutes of the game.

The Madrid team decided by order of its coach, the Italian Carlo Ancelotti, to cede the ball and the initiative to its rivals, defending all the time in its own field, waiting for some error in the pass or some theft of the ball that would lead to them. allowed his very fast and virtuous forwards to mount a devastating counterattack.

The plan came out perfectly: in the 11th minute, after superb control by Bellingham after a long run by the Madrid defense, he broke the English defense with a through ball to Vinicius, who from the right wing crossed low to his compatriot Rodrygo who finished erratically with his first shot and crashed the ball into the goalkeeper, but fortunately the rebound left the ball at his feet again. And there he no longer forgave: he violently resolved the left end of the goal and the ball crossed the goal line, putting Real Madrid ahead of the tie against all odds.

From the first goal onwards, the game became an almost absolute dominance of City, who had more than 70 percent possession of the ball and, above all, came dangerously from the wings, whether through Grealish, by De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva or Doku. But Real Madrid’s defense was a wall, it resisted the siege with absolute physical display and with great interventions from its goalkeeper, the Ukrainian Lunin, who ultimately became one of the great protagonists of the night.

The Spanish team showed its weakest profile in attack and decided to lock itself in behind, hardly creating any dangerous chances. The insistence of the English paid off in the 75th minute, when a play with several rebounds finally reached their most quality player, the Belgian De Bruyne, who equalized the score.

Fight without quarter

The rest of the second half was a hand-to-hand fight for every space, for every ball, and without the possibility of making a mistake. The game ended and gave way to extra time, which changed the script slightly, with Real Madrid pressing a little higher up the field and attempting a counterattack more daringly. But neither one nor the other managed to cross the network. So, with time running out, the referee blew the final whistle, which meant that it was the most close and intense tie of the tournament and, perhaps in recent years, it was going to have to be decided from the fateful penalty spot.

The first to shoot were the Manchester City players, through the Argentine Julián Álvarez, who scored his goal with quality. Then it was the turn of Madrid player Luka Modric, the Croatian and the oldest member of the team, who shot very weakly and poorly placed, so the goalkeeper stopped him. Everything seemed to be in favor of the English; However, then the young goalkeeper Lunin appeared, who stopped the shots of Bernardo Silva and Kovacic, while the Madrid players Bellingham and Lucas Vázquez had scored them without problem. Then the Manchester player, Foden, made the charge, while the merengue captain, Nacho, did the same. So the final round arrived, which forced City to score and so did the team’s goalkeeper, Ederson, who after his shot grabbed the ball, hugged it and looked at the sky before what could be the last penalty of the game. . The person responsible for shooting it for the Spanish team was the German central defender Rudiger, who adjusted the shot to the left post, in a place impossible for the goalkeeper to reach. It was a goal and Real Madrid had qualified, thus beating Manchester City, who had not lost at home in a European match since 2018.

In yesterday’s other match, Bayern Munich beat Arsenal, thanks to a goal from Kimmich and after a match dominated by the German team.

The two semi-finals are already clear: on the one hand, PSG will face off against Borussia Dortmund and, on the other, Real Madrid against Bayern Munich, in search of a ticket to the Wembley final.