The spectators at the Etihad Stadium had barely sat down when the fuse was already set in the powder keg. Kevin de Bruyne headed in the 1-0 within a hundred seconds, after a gossamer cross from Riyad Mahrez from the right. Real had no time to breathe and were already 2-0 down after ten minutes, when Gabriel Jesus scored.
jesus
The Brazilian was the final destination after an attack by Phil Foden and De Bruyne, whose cross was touched by Toni Kroos and ended up at Jesus. The Brazilian acted faster than his guard David Alaba and gave Thibaut Courtois the check.
Real looked ripe for a swift demolition, but City failed to reward themselves further for the overwhelming opening stage. Mahrez fired hard into the side net, while Foden and Oleksandr saw Zinchenko vicious shots sail just past the post next to Courtois. The first chance the visitors had, however, fell in. Ferland Mendy found with a fine cross Karim Benzema, who came in front of Zinchenko and hit the long corner.
Karim Benzema trumps Oleksandr Zinchenko and hits on behalf of Real Madrid.
AFP
Even before the break, the Madrilenians were close to 2-2 via Rodrygo, who found goalkeeper Ederson in his way. The attacker got the wind from his teammate Luka Modric, who was free and would have loved to have the ball.
Fernandinho and Vinicius
After tea, the game continued at full speed and Mahrez and Foden had already scored the 3-1 within three minutes. The Algerian hit the post, while Foden shot the rebound against Dani Carvajal who was in the goal mouth. Foden was successful with the head five minutes later, when Fernandinho trumped his compatriot Vinicius Junior and served his teammate with a gossamer cross.
Less than two minutes later, the roles were reversed. Vinicius Junior showed Fernandinho his heels with a smart move and finished flawlessly after a great sprint of more than fifty meters: 3-2. Then two central defenders got their chance at a goal. Eder Militao failed to head in the 3-3 and on the other side Aymeric Laporte shot a Zinchenko cross right into the hands of Courtois.
Romanian referee Istvan Kovacs also planned to participate in the spectacle and first did so by applying an excellent advantage rule. Zinchenko went over the knee at Kroos and everyone was counting on a free kick, but Bernardo Silva picked up the ball and pecked the ball past the stunned Courtois in the corner. Just under ten minutes before the end, the arbiter awarded a penalty to Real, after Laporte had headed the ball on his own outstretched arm. Benzema had missed two penalties in Real’s competition match last week, but now showed his absolute class by leaving Ederson without a chance via a ‘Panenka’: 4-3.
There were no minutes left in the spectacle for Nathan Aké. Pep Guardiola left the Dutch defender on the reserve bench for the entire game.
View the results and the program in the Champions League here