Real Madrid v Manchester City: Champions League semi-final, first leg – live
Real Madrid v Manchester City: Champions League semi-final, first leg – live
Jack Grealish caught the mood of optimism at Manchester City after their 1-1 draw at Real Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final, saying they were ready to finish the job at the Etihad Stadium next Wednesday.
City started well but were reeled in by Madrid, who led through Vinícius Júnior’s vicious drive on 36 minutes. The holders, who eliminated City last season in the semi-final, were in charge but then Kevin De Bruyne changed everything, equalising with a fizzing drive midway through the second half.
“At the Etihad we feel unstoppable,” Grealish said. “For me, this is a fair result. It was an incredible shot from KDB, we see it every day in training. We have a new team, a balance of experience and youngsters. I’ve never felt so confident going on to the pitch with the players around me.
“I had a text from my mum before the game saying: ‘These are the nights you dreamed of as a kid,’ and it’s true. Playing in a Champions League semi‑final that everyone in the world was probably watching, sometimes you pinch yourself.”
Carlo Ancelotti, the Madrid manager, insisted his team had deserved better, having largely held City at arm’s length. Erling Haaland was restricted by David Alaba and Antonio Rüdiger, who stepped in for the suspended Eder Militao. “We easily could have won, I believe we deserved to win,” Ancelotti said. “We controlled the game well. After scoring we played well.”
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Ancelotti was furious and conspiratorial, arguing that he had seen the ball go out of play in the buildup to De Bruyne’s goal. Ancelotti was booked for his protests. “It was out of play,” he said. “I don’t understand why they did not use VAR. BeIn [Sport] showed the ball was off the pitch.
Technology said it and I don’t understand why VAR didn’t check it. The referee didn’t pay attention to many things tonight.”
Pep Guardiola paid tribute to De Bruyne. “He made an incredible performance for many reasons and I’m happy for him,” the City manager said. “In this type of game, in this type of competition – semi-finals and finals – you need your best players. Ederson and Kyle Walker were exceptional.
Now we’re going to travel to Manchester and see what we can do better. This kind of game is like a playoff. For the second, you learn a lot from the first.”
The ball was there to hit and how Kevin De Bruyne hit it. It was midway through the second half, Manchester City were behind to Vinícius Júnior’s scorching 36th‑minute blast and the feeling was starting to take hold that Real Madrid had this Champions League semi-final first leg exactly where they wanted it.
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For City, the demons circled at the venue where it had all gone horribly wrong for them in the second leg of last season’s semifinals; the collapse at the end of normal time, two goals shipped to Rodrygo after the 90th minute, Karim Benzema’s extra‑time winner. Madrid were en route to their 14th title.
De Bruyne sliced through it all when he cut across the ball with the laces of his right boot, 25 yards out and centrally placed after Ilkay Gündogan’s layoff. Boy, did it fizz. It was always likely to take something special to beat Thibaut Courtois. This was it. Whatever Vinícius could do, so could De Bruyne.
Nothing would be settled here, everybody knew that. But at full‑time it was easy to feel that City were the happier with the draw. The impression would harden when Carlo Ancelotti, the Madrid manager, talked about the control he felt his team had enjoyed, how they restricted City to precious few clear-cut chances.
Is the holy grail edging nearer for City? Benzema with a far‑post header and the substitute, Aurélien Tchouaméni, with another vicious drive – the motif of the evening – extended Ederson towards the end but Madrid could not find the winner.
Tchouaméni’s attempt came in the 90th minute; there would be no late voodoo this time and, when the music had subsided after full-time it was the travelling City fans who made their voices heard. They had suffered last season, locked into their enclosure for what seemed like an age after the defeat, stunned into silence. They believe it will finish differently in the return next Wednesday.
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Pep Guardiola had avoided any public acknowledgement of the impact of the tie here last season but it was not to say that his mind was free of it. Or that he had not addressed the subject in private with his players. It was plainly a part of it, Rodri admitting on Monday that he was driven to avenge the heartbreak.
It felt like the ultimate psychological test, Madrid bringing the theatre, too. No club does these kind of nights quite like them, certainly in terms of grandness, the projection of who they are, the self-assurance. There had been the usual understatement in the giant pre-match tifo. “El Rey y Su Copa” read the lettering on either side of an image of a viking royal, his hands on the European Cup; the number 14 prominent. “The king and his cup.”
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It was City that settled the quicker, hogging possession, dictating the tempo and what was noticeable at the outset was how little pressure Madrid put on the ball. City were able to play and they had sightings of goal, Courtois asked to make four saves in the first 16 minutes, albeit none that overly stretched him.
The best was a push around the post to keep out a low Rodri drive on 14 minutes. The opening for Erling Haaland moments later was the clearest, De Bruyne having ushered him up the inside left. The angle was not favourable. Haaland dragged straight at Courtois and he would also thump a header at the goalkeeper. De Bruyne had been the first City player to test him.
Madrid were unconcerned, Ancelotti feeling that City’s possession was largely sterile. His team processed the City patterns and they worked their way into the tie, their midfield three coming to control the visitors’ threat between the lines. Vinícius and Benzema flickered.
The breakthrough goal was a mixture of beauty and brutality, the former provided by Luka Modric’s outside-of-the-boot return flick to Eduardo Camavinga deep on the Madrid left, which got the latter moving. When he found Vinícius, the forward allowed the ball to run under his studs, taking Gündogan out of the action. Now came the power. The shot from the edge of the area was aimed towards Ederson’s right‑hand post and it positively ripped past him.
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City felt a bit of rough stuff before the interval, Dani Carvajal barging Jack Grealish into the advertising boards; Toni Kroos booked for a bad tackle on Gündogan. Grealish pushed a hand up at Carvajal to draw a shameful over-reaction from the full-back. The referee, Artur Dias, did not buy it.
What did City have in the second half? Haaland almost got on to a Gündogan pass in the 56th minute only for David Alaba to move across and make a fine block tackle. Antonio Rüdiger celebrated it like a goal. Alaba and Rüdiger played Haaland superbly, giving him little space.
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City could not take their eyes off Benzema, who had gone close after the restart, and Madrid had a swagger in their step. Their threat on the break was clear. But back came City. Back came De Bruyne.
The equaliser was sparked when Rodri stepped up to intercept Camavinga’s risky pass out of defence, intended for Rodrygo and, when City worked it for De Bruyne, his shot rocked the Bernabéu. Further back in the buildup, Ancelotti insisted that the ball had gone out of play and he would be booked for his protests. All eyes now turn to the Etihad Stadium.
45 min +2: This is getting a bit wild all of a sudden. Gundogan prepares to race into space down the right, and is brought to ground by a ludicrous Kroos high-kick across his waist. Kroos quite rightly goes into the book; he could easily have seen red for that.
45 min: Carvajal and Grealish chase a ball down the left. It’s heading out for a goal kick. Carvajal needlessly barges into the back of Grealish and sends him off towards the advertising hoardings. It’s a saucy one, and Grealish reacts by swiping at his opponent, who goes down himself. The referee reminds both players of their age – double figures! – and the play restarts.
41 min: City settle things down a little with some patient passing in the middle of the park. They slowly edge their way upfield and De Bruyne crosses from the left. But there’s nobody in the centre to take advantage.
GOAL! Real Madrid 1-0 Manchester City (Vinicius Jr 36)
City have been the better side, but look at the score now! Out of very little, Camavinga and Modric combine down the left. The former drifts infield and rolls across for Vinicius Jr, who takes a touch before launching a rising missile into the top left from 25 yards! Ederson had no chance whatsoever! What a goal!
31 min: Gundogan’s good to continue. After the restart, Rodrygo crosses from the right, but Vinicius is never winning an aerial duel with Stones and Dias in the middle.
29 min: Gundogan comes off second best in a challenge with Rudiger, whose no-nonsense style as a Chelsea player did for De Bruyne in the 2021 final. City aren’t happy with the non-award of a foul. Real aren’t happy a counter attack is stopped by the referee’s whistle, so Gundogan can get some treatment.
27 min: Benzema sticks out a leg to stop an in-flow Grealish, and turns his ankle while doing so. After a brief pause, the Real striker’s good to continue.
26 min: City have enjoyed 72 percent possession so far. The Real fans are not used to this sort of carry-on.
25 min: … so after all that, City nearly gift Real the opener! Rodri allows Vinicius to romp away down the left. Vinicius whips a low cross into the six-yard box. Benzema prepares to bundle home, only for Dias to slide in and hook clear, just in time! That got the volume back up all right.
23 min: City are currently strutting around like they own the place. No mean feat at the Bernabeu. An awful lot of dissatisfied whistling from the home fans, their team yet to get going this evening.
19 min: Stones drives down the inside-right channel before being clipped by Camavinga. Instead of awarding a free kick just to the right of the D, the referee waves play on, even though there’s no real advantage. Gundogan curls a weak shot over from distance before giving the referee a mouthful. On the touchline, Pep isn’t too happy either.
18 min: Rodrygo cuts in quickly from the right before slipping a ball down the channel for Benzema. For a second, it looks like a huge chance developing for Real, but Ederson has read the danger well and comes to the edge of his box to smother before Benzema can reach the pass. Real bare their teeth for the first time this evening.
16 min: Haaland gains a yard down the inside-left channel and fizzes a low shot goalwards from a tight angle. Easy for Courtois. Then another phase of attack, and Grealish reaches the byline on the left before standing one up for Haaland at the back stick. A powerful header is claimed by the keeper. City are beginning to ask some serious questions.
14 min: Rodri takes a speculative whack from 25 yards. No pressure in a big pocket of space. It’s heading into the bottom left, and Courtois sees it late, but tips it around the post. Another City corner, this time from the left. De Bruyne hits it long. Silva hooks it back into the middle. Carvajal and Haaland collide, six yards out. Haaland falls and makes a half-hearted claim for a penalty that’s never going to be awarded.
12 min: Vinicius attempts to spin Walker and beat his man in a footrace down the left. Walker gives no ground. City smoothly triangle their way back out of their final third. The visitors in confident mood during these early exchanges.
9 min: Silva drives down the inside-right channel and cuts back for De Bruyne, who sends an instant drive towards the bottom-right corner. Courtois parries, then the flag goes up for an offside before any City player can get to the rebound. City will be pleased with their start … especially as soon after they win another corner down the right. This one’s wasted. But still. The home fans whistling quite a lot as a result of City’s dominant opening.
5 min: Vinicius tears down the left but can’t find Benzema in the middle. Dias clears, but only after blootering his first clearance into Grealish, who is moving a bit better now. Up the other end, Silva slips De Bruyne into some space down the right. De Bruyne wins the first corner of the match off Camavinga. Nothing comes of the set piece. An intense first few minutes.
30 sec: Grealish hangs out a leg to cynically block Rodrygo, and a fussier referee might have laid down a marker. But no yellow card. We play on.
Manchester City get the ball rolling.“That City line-up looks suspiciously sensible and balanced,” groans Matt Dony. “What’s Pep playing at? Where’s the unnecessary Big-European-Game insanity going to come from? Can we expect Haaland to slot in at right back? Are Stones and Grealish going to be swapping places every ten minutes? Any chance we’ll see Ederson as a false nine?” Doesn’t look like it. But there’s always next week.
