Entering the semi-final second leg at Etihad, both Man City and Real Madrid launched the strongest squad. On the Man City side, great players like John Stones, Jack Grealish, Ilkay Gundogan, Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva or Erling Haaland started.
The Real Madrid away team also unleashed the best they have at the moment with Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, Fede Valverde, Rodrygo, Karim Benzema and Vinicius Junior. The only strange thing is that coach Carlo Ancelotti suddenly put Antonio Rudiger – who “pocketed” Haaland in the first leg – on the bench.
With home field advantage, Man City does not hide its intention to pre-empt Real Madrid. Immediately after the opening whistle, The Citizens rushed to attack like a storm. Man City exactly did not consider “the king of the Champions League”, when they made Los Blancos look like a mid-range team when having to cluster in defense.
In the 12th minute, the first delicious opportunity came to Man City. Receiving a pass from Grealish, Haaland headed home from close range but the excellence of goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois saved Real Madrid. In the first 15 minutes, Man City held the ball up to 80% and they almost only played on the bottom third of the opponent’s field.
In the 21st minute, Courtois once again became the hero of Real Madrid with a save by flying his fingers after Haaland’s dangerous header. However, the Belgian goalkeeper, no matter how good, was helpless in the situation 2 minutes later.
Welcoming De Bruyne’s slit, Silva in an unmarked position in the penalty area decisively entered the corner near Real Madrid to open the scoring. A fully deserved reward for the tireless efforts of the home team.
Excited after the goal to break the balance, Man City continued to create great pressure on Real Madrid’s goal. The best opportunity that Los Blancos owned came in the 37th minute with a shot as far as a cannon hitting the crossbar of Kroos. Only 3 minutes after this situation, the away team had to go into the net to pick up the ball for the second time.
Gundogan’s kick in the penalty area hit Eder Militao’s leg and bounced off, and Silva in an unmarked position comfortably headed into the net of Real Madrid, completing himself a brace. Summarizing the first half, Man City showed absolute strength and the fact that they had 2 goals reflected exactly what happened on the field.
In the second half, Real Madrid tried to push the squad to find a goal. In the 51st minute, midfielder David Alaba took a beautiful free kick to force Ederson to save his life. In the 73rd minute, Man City had a golden opportunity to raise the score to 3-0 when Haaland faced Courtois. However, the foot of the Norwegian striker did not defeat the “keeper” of Real Madrid.
However, Haaland has nothing to be sad about because 3 minutes later, his team had the 3rd time shaking the net of Real Madrid. From De Bruyne’s free-kick on the left, centre-back Manuel Akanji headed for the header and the ball hit Militao’s foot and went into the net.
At this point, Real Madrid almost gave up. In the first minute of injury time, substitute striker Julian Alvarez completed a sublime day of Man City with a goal to score a crunchy 4-0 victory. Thus, after 2 matches, Blue Man defeated Real Madrid with a total score of 5-1 to enter the Champions League final. Their opponent will be Inter Milan.
Man City vs Real Madrid Line-ups
Man City: Ederson, Walker, Stones, Dias, Akanji, Rodrigo, Gundogan (Mahrez 79′), De Bruyne (Foden 84′), Bernardo, Grealish, Haaland (Alvarez 89′)
Real Madrid: Courtois; Carvajal (Vazquez 80′), Militao, Alaba, Camavinga (Tchouameni 80′); Kroos (Asensio 70′), Modrić (Rudiger 63′), Valverde; Vinícius, Rodrygo (Ceballos 80′), Benzema
