Regret! Manchester City attacked wildly, Real Madrid counterattacked, and advanced to the top 4 of the Champions League!
In the second leg of the quarterfinals of the Champions League, an epic confrontation hailed as the finals, Manchester City played Real Madrid at home. The two teams know each other very well and often meet in the knockout rounds, and although the two teams are basically evenly matched in terms of record, Real Madrid's last three visits to Manchester City have all lost, and this game is not very crowded, so the prospects for Carlo Ancelotti and Real Madrid are not too promising.
At full time, Rodrygo's goal helped Real Madrid take the lead. However, after more than 70 minutes, plus 30 minutes of extra time, the overall situation was completely suppressed by Manchester City, and De Bruyne equalised. In the penalty shootout, Manchester City's two generals missed, and finally the two legs of the contest, the two sides fought 4:4, and in the penalty shootout, Manchester City lost 3:4! Real Madrid advanced to the top four of the Champions League.
Although the tempo of the two teams was not so fast after the opening, they were very focused and cautious with each other in each round. After a few minutes of acclimatization, De Bruyne ran wide and tested Lunin with a cross. Just a minute later, Real Madrid played a fluid link up front and Camavinga's long-range shot was parried by Ederson. In the 12th minute, Real Madrid made a long pass in the backfield, Bellingham took the ball and plugged it straight, Vinicius crossed the back point, Rodrygo scored twice in front of the goal, and Real Madrid took the lead!
Falling behind, City quickly organised a counter-attack, and a succession of corner kicks, combined with Haaland's header, came very close to finding the back of the net. In the 19th minute, De Bruyne once again disrupted the Real Madrid defense, and Haaland's header hit the crossbar! In the 25th minute, Real Madrid launched a quick counterattack, Vinicius directly attracted the defense of three people, and the wonderful pass followed Carvajal, who shot hard and was blocked. In the 27th minute, De Bruyne shot from outside the box and was saved by the goalkeeper. In the 36th minute, Haaland advanced with the ball, and Grealish's powerful shot from Grealish, who was quickly distributed, was blocked by the defender.
Throughout the first half, there was no doubt that Manchester City, who were playing at home, were more proactive, but this was also plagued by the team's goal conceded shortly after the opening. Although Real Madrid does not have many opportunities, Vinicius, Bellingham, Carvajal and Rodrygo's counterattack is very capable of seizing opportunities. Real Madrid, after the team took the lead, the formation was directly recycled, and the dense defense and close defense in the middle did not give Manchester City too many good opportunities. Despite De Bruyne's best efforts, both in maneuver and with a personal shot, he was unable to find the back of the net. At half-time, for Pep Guardiola, although the team controlled the initiative of the game, it needed to be faster in the tempo and improve in interspersing in order to find opportunities in the tight space of Real Madrid.
After the start of the second half, Manchester City continued to maintain a high-pressure attacking posture, Grealish shot an arrow, and was saved by Lunin again! In the 51st minute, Manchester City's continuous pressure almost forced Nacho to make a fatal mistake and almost cleared a goal-line clearance. The successive attacks allowed City to get a lot of corners and create a certain threat almost every time, which made Real Madrid's defense very passive. Around the 60th minute, Real Madrid seized two counter-attacking opportunities and gave Manchester City two yellow cards in one minute, taking advantage of this opportunity, Real Madrid tried to slow down the tempo and relieve the overall defensive pressure.
Strong pressure suppressed Real Madrid's formation near the penalty area, and in the 72nd minute, Guardiola replaced Grealish, and Doku came on to further impact Carvajal. In the 76th minute, Doku, who had just come on the field, opened up the situation on the side, and De Bruyne scored in the top corner of the penalty area, and Manchester City equalized the score! In the 79th minute, Ancelotti replaced Kroos and replaced Modric, striving to change the passive defensive situation, at least to be able to hold the ball on the field. In the 81st minute, Doku made a wonderful pass on the side, Akanji crossed, and the unguarded De Bruyne flew away bizarrely, and Manchester City missed a good opportunity to overtake! The two teams were scoreless in regular time, and the score went into extra time.
Before extra time, Haaland didn't have the desired effect, so Pep Guardiola replaced him with Alvarez, forming a more interspersed combination up front. The effect of successive changes between several players in the front of Manchester City became more and more obvious, and they had a couple of good chances to shoot in the box. In the 108th minute, Carvajal was so tired that his legs cramped and he was replaced by Militão. Manchester City brought on Mateo Kovacic and John Stones, but neither side found the back of the net again and the two sides went to penalties.
In the penalty shootout, Modric, Silva, and Kovacic missed penalties one after another, and finally Real Madrid defeated Manchester City on penalties and advanced to the top 4!
Before the game, many fans said frankly that as long as Real Madrid dragged the game into extra time, it would have a high probability of winning! Because in the last six knockout rounds of the Champions League in extra time, Real Madrid was the final winner! In extra time, they were not afraid of any opponent in terms of strength and experience! Sure enough, it was Real Madrid who had the last laugh in this strong dialogue!