Real Madrid traveled this Wednesday evening, to the Etihad Stadium, in the semi-final return of the Champions League to face Manchester City. While the two teams had left themselves on a draw in the first leg in Spain (1-1), everything remained to be done for a qualifying ticket for the grand final of the competition against Inter Milan, victorious Tuesday against AC Milan.
To discover
- Champions League schedule and results
In the first half, Manchester City played their attacking game with cleanliness and fluidity. Twice, Erling Haaland could have scored from the head but Real Madrid's Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois made two impressive parries (13th, 21st) to keep the score blank for a while. But the domination of the Citizens was total and it is logical that Bernardo Silva opened the scoring on a magnificent service of Kevin De Bruyne (23rd, 1-0).
Real Madrid without a solution
A few minutes later, the Portuguese offered himself a double by recovering a ball poorly cleared by the Madrid defense, from the head directly into the window of Courtois (37th, 2-0). At the break, Real Madrid had only once shot on goal, a strike by Toni Kroos that crashed into the crossbar of City's Brazilian goalkeeper, Ederson (34th). While Manchester City showed 72% possession and a dozen shots attempted, Carlo Ancelotti's players seemed amorphous, without solution.
See alsoChampions League: Silva's double with City crucified Real
In the second act, Real Madrid tried to bounce back but the Manchester City defence was far too focused, like Kyle Walker's interventions. Pep Guardiola's players spent the majority of the second half managing the pace, depriving Madrid of the ball and minimising risk-taking. And on a final free kick centered by De Bruyne, Manuel Akanji came to place his header, diverted by Eder Militao in his boxes, the break was then made (76th, 3-0).
Unpublished poster in the final
In extra time, on his first opportunity, Julian Alvarez rattled the net again on a pass from Phil Foden (90th+1, 4-0). Despite some ball losses in the axis, the Mancunians showed real consistency and never seemed to falter or take their foot off. Erling Haaland even found the crossbar on a face-off superbly pushed back by Courtois on his bar (73rd).
With this result, Manchester City joined Inter Milan in the final of the Champions League. The two teams will cross swords for the Cup with Big Ears on June 10 at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul. An unprecedented poster in the history of the competition since the two clubs have met only three, only in friendly matches.
