Reporter Han Bing reported that Real Madrid withstood the bombardment of as many as 33 shots on goal in 120 minutes against Manchester City four times in five years, and only three of the eight shots on goal were on target. In the end, it relied on the excellent performance of goalkeeper Lu Ning to eliminate the defending champions. Carlo Ancelotti washed away the shame of last year's Champions League semi-final defeat to Manchester City, and Real Madrid, who have reached the semi-finals of the Champions League for four consecutive seasons, has seen the shadow of the 15th Champions League trophy.
It was the first time since Lyon in 2020 that a team had been able to knock out Manchester City in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, but that time it was a one-game elimination in Portugal, with Real Madrid being the first team to win the Champions League at the United Aviation Stadium since September 2018. Although City's unbeaten run in regulation time in the Champions League has been extended to 31, that record has lost its significance by missing out on the last four.
This almost one-sided game on the field shows Real Madrid's Champions League champion heritage to some extent. Pep Guardiola fielded all his squad, while Carlo Ancelotti opted for Nacho over the newly injured Militão and Rudiger in central defence. Real Madrid, who were firmly on the counterattack, seized the only scoring opportunity of the game in the 12th minute. Carvajal played a long ball from the back, Bellingham, Valverde, Vinicius and Rodrygo linked, and Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson blocked Rodrygo's first shot but couldn't block the second.
After conceding the goal, Manchester City were on the offensive but unlucky, and in the 19th minute, Haaland's header hit the crossbar and bounced off, and the Norwegian striker scored nothing in four games in his career, and Real Madrid became the team he played the most games with zero goals. In the 76th minute, Manchester City finally scored after a long attack. Rudiger cleared Doku's cross far enough and De Bruyne equalised from close range. After conceding the goal, Real Madrid gritted their teeth and defended, Carvajal almost became the third central defender, and in the 110th minute of extra time, Carvajal was replaced with cramps, and will miss the first leg of the Champions League semifinals due to the accumulation of yellow cards.
Real Madrid's young Ukrainian goalkeeper Lunin was the number one contributor to the narrow victory over the defending champions. In normal time, he saved four inevitable shots from Kevin De Bruyne and Grealish. In the penalty shootout, Modric's penalty in the first appearance was saved under great pressure, Lunin saved the penalty kicks of seat B and Kovacic in succession, and when saving the penalty of seat B, he predicted the opponent's choice to play in the middle, and the save on the spot was undoubtedly a great blow to Manchester City's morale. In the fifth round, Rudiger, who completely froze Haaland in two legs, hit accurately to help Real Madrid eliminate the defending champions and enter the Champions League semi-finals.
This is the first time in nearly 19 years that the Champions League has staged a penalty shootout in the quarter-finals since 2005. Real Madrid have won three of their four penalty shoot-outs in the knockout stages of the Champions League, knocking out Juventus (1986/87 quarter-finals), Atletico Madrid (2015/16 final) and Manchester City, before losing to Bayern Munich (2011/12 semi-finals).
Lunin was previously a goalkeeper with a very high penalty success rate (8 out of 22 saves, 36.4%), and has saved Harrow's penalty against Braga in the Champions League group stage this season. He has also won two penalty shoot-outs before: in the 2016/17 Copa de Ukraine quarter-final penalty shoot-out, saving two out of eight penalties, and three years later, Lunin, who was on loan at Valladolid by Real Madrid, saved two penalties against Marbella in the second round of the Copa del Rey. This time, Lunin still saved 2 penalties, and also guessed the direction of Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson to take the penalty, but unfortunately the ball speed was too fast and did not end the game earlier.
Real Madrid entered the last four of the Champions League for the 17th time since the restructuring of the Champions League in the 1992/93 season, and participated in the quarter-finals in the past 12 years, and the last time they could eliminate Real Madrid in the quarter-finals was Monaco in 2004. Real Madrid is also the only representative of La Liga in the Champions League semi-finals for the sixth time since the Champions League was restructured. It can be seen that Real Madrid's championship foundation is strong. The elimination of the defending champions in the Champions League is a "good omen" for Real Madrid: Real Madrid have eliminated the defending champions of the Champions League five times before, and finally won the trophy (1998, 2000, 2002, 2014, 2022).
Carlo Ancelotti continues to prove his greatness: he became the first coach to knock Pep Guardiola out of the Champions League three times, in the 2014 semi-finals, Carlo Ancelotti's Real Madrid eliminated Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich, and in 2022 and this year, Ancelotti shattered Pep Guardiola's Champions League dreams twice. The Italian has led the team to the last four of the Champions League 10 times, tied with Pep Guardiola for first place in Champions League history. If Carlo Ancelotti wins the trophy this time, the Italian coach will surpass Alex Ferguson to top the Champions League table in terms of games in charge, and continue to be the highest number of titles won (five).
It is worth mentioning that Real Madrid's opponent in the semi-finals, Bayern, also won the championship in 2020, when they last reached the last four of the Champions League. Bayern have knocked out Real Madrid four times in the Champions League semi-finals to reach the final (1975/76, 1986/87, 2000/01 and 2011/12), winning the title twice. However, in 1999/2000, 2013/14 and 2017/18, they lost to Real Madrid in the semi-finals, and Real Madrid eventually won the title. Real Madrid's "victory over the defending champions" law or Bayern's law of the final four is a "pseudo-law", which is the "pseudo-law", will soon be clear.