Real Madrid can’t be killed so easily
It really should be over by now. In the first leg of their Champions League semi-final, Manchester City largely dominated Real Madrid, easily cutting through the Madrid defence, scoring four goals in the process. It was a performance worthy of a huge, perhaps insurmountable margin of victory. Instead, Real Madrid have once again proven the one undeniable truth in recent Champions League history: Until they are dead, Real Madrid are never, ever dead.
In this case, Madrid were mostly lucky to avoid conceding even more goals and managed to score three to go home with a manageable 4–3, one goal loss. It really shouldn’t have been this close. Although the final tally stats didn’t really show any lopsided shots – the hosts had 60 per cent possession, but only one more shot on target than Real – City were able to get chance after chance after chance on both sides of the pitch , while Madrid’s defense even struggled to stay within the same postcode.
The game couldn’t have started better for Manchester City. Just 95 seconds into the game, a magnificent cross from Riyad Mahrez found a wide-open Kevin De Bruyne in the box for City’s opener.
Here’s the thing, though: it should have been more. Mahrez had a few chances to pour even more misery on Real’s plate, none better than in the 48th minute when he broke away from the baseline. He could have cross-passed Phil Foden for a tap-in, but instead shot wide. So far, in fact, he’s hit the ball from the woodwork, and Foden couldn’t quite get the rebound home:
From a neutral point of view, a score of 4 to 3 is above all an indication of an incredibly fun game, and even Pep Guardiola said it was “one of the best nights of my life.” However, despite winning, City will have to be the most disappointed team. With Real on the ropes and down two goals not once, not twice, but three separate times, the English side could have thrust a dagger straight into the hearts of their opponents. Instead, Real did what they do so well: they kept their cool, relied on their stars to take over from their restless defense and got just enough lucky rebounds to keep up. his way in order to only lose by one.
With the away goals rule out of the picture, City will be happy not to have that particular mountain to climb next week. Still, they will head to the stronghold of Madrid next week in dire need of another dominating performance and also less Madrid magic. For Real, this is exactly where they want to be. Heading into Tuesday’s game, I’m sure Carlo Ancelotti and Co. would have gladly suffered a one-goal loss, and given how poorly the team played for most of the game, they’re probably even happier to have only lost by one. Now Real can do what they do best: try to win a knockout round, they have nothing to gain. And after Tuesday’s bit of wizardry, following two straight knockout matches in which they were also outplayed but still advanced, who would bet against them doing just that? Just when the corpse looks coldest is when it comes to life roaring.
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