“Now we have to defend ourselves,” Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola said with a smile, how different the rematch against Real Madrid will be different from last week’s outstanding 4-7 English goal. first meeting ending. Both teams won their weekend championship 4-0, for the Spaniards it was already a championship title, they came out of celebration to celebrate once again. This celebration did not come together in an ordinary way.
The first quarter now has not scored two goals like a week in England, but two yellow cards. Modric and Laporte fought each other a bit after a free kick. The scene pointed out: there was quite a bit of tension in the players.
It was obviously not expected that there would be seven goals again, but perhaps it was that the disadvantaged Spaniards would hit the goal in half time. Benzema had a header and a shot in the first 15 minutes, but now he wasn’t as accurate as in previous matches, both of his balls went far above. He has taken ruthless advantage of similar situations lately. Vinicius ’10-meter attempt also missed a target, although the Brazilian winger was in a promising position.
Kevin de Bruyne’s long shot really ought to have found the net 80 minutes into the match, but it fell just wide of the target. But there was an idea to it – the misdirected ball was turned into a cross towards Bernardo Silva, who was waiting for it in the box. Gabriel Jesus tried from 17, but was half a meter wrong. These attacks indicated the City clearly took control of the game. In his hair, Foden’s unpleasant shot was hit by Courtois with a big throw, City could have kicked two corners in the last minute of the half, but one was worse than the other.
Real said goodbye to both PSG and Chelsea in the previous two duel, so that they could not dominate the game all the way, only over their rivals for a shorter or longer period. The home team took little risk in the first half, and there was a full second.
Rodrygo, the replacement, brought the turn
The second half started with a huge home opportunity, Carvajal scooted on the edge, put the ball in the middle, Vinicius did not hit the ball well from five meters, so the goal was not well. Jesus responded with a nice shot, but the Real goalkeeper was in place.
Real increased the pressure, Vinicius’s returned ball put Modric in a big position, but the Croatian shot was blocked. It would have been better if he shot him without allegation. Casiniro’s Vinicius was relaxed as he smoothly put the ball in the net.
Ancelotti switched for the first time in the 69th minute, bringing Rodrygo to Kroos to see if his momentum brings the long-awaited goal. Guardiola Walker was taken off the right side of the defense, Zinchenko replaced him, Kevin de Bruyne did not continue, Gündogan replaced him.
In the 72nd minute, Zinchenko and Gündogan launched the attack, which Mahrez ended with a goal. The Algerian player got the ball from Silva, who rushed in the middle, and bombarded the short top corner with his left, without any assertion. Courtois raised his hand but couldn’t knock the ball out.
Real couldn’t spin the game for a long time because he couldn’t hold the ball, Grealish could have scored City’s second goal twice, giving him a good chance to advance, but first he was blocked by French defender Mendy and then Courtois. It turned out later that both were rare important and quite extra interventions.
Because the turn came in the 90th minute
Imported as a substitute, Camawinga fired the ball to the left of Benzema, who centered well from a bite, and Rodrygo equalized up close. The next hit came in a minute. The English could not deliver, Carvajal’s many passes were accurate, and Rodrygo now didn’t nod but nodded at the goal. The Brazilian sent his defenseless head from seven yards to the right of the goal, which was especially brilliant because the ball slipped on Asensio’s head, which popped up with him.
The lightning-fast turnaround revived the entire stadium, although the mood of the spectators approached the apathy a few minutes earlier. Rodrygo missed a hat-trick, Ederson past the goalkeeper because when he was in position in the 93rd minute, he defended his ball. Foden could have ended the duel in the sixth minute of the eight-minute overtime, but he was hairy from 14 yards in a relatively clean position. (The video shows both goals.)
Benzema missed the first big position of overtime, but two minutes later a penalty was fought by the French striker. Portuguese midfielder Ruben Dias stepped late towards the ball, the referee confirmed that the Italian referee Orsato made the right decision. Benzema rolled the ball into the bottom left corner, right next to the left goal post, and as the goalkeeper chose the other direction, BL scored his 15th goal this season and scored 43 goals in 43 games. (Ancelotti replaced him a few minutes later.)
At the last minute of the first half of the extra time, Courtois knocked Foden’s 10-meter head out of the corner, Fernandinho exploded on the rebound but couldn’t get it into the goal. We didn’t know back then, that was the biggest chance for the English.
The last quarter of an hour had brought a troubled game, Real didn’t want to get anything out of the match, and City couldn’t. Real kept the job well, so the English final was missed, as was Guardiola’s next BL final. Instead, the 2018 finals will be repeated, with Real winning 3-1 against Liverpool in Kiev. This year’s final, after being taken away from St. Petersburg, will be held in Paris on May 28th.
“This is Real Madrid, this club can do anything. We knew the extension would be 6 minutes and we couldn’t give up. We ruined the last passes, so we had to wait a long time for our goals. In the first half of the 2×15 extension, we were already carried forward by the heat, in the second half we just had to keep the advantage. We are really looking forward to the finals, my first trophy may be for me ”
Thibault Courtois told M4.
Real could achieve their fourteenth BL and Liverpool their seventh BL success in the French capital.
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