Manchester City has qualified very convincingly for the final of the Champions League on Wednesday. The English won 4-0 against Real Madrid, after the first leg ended in 1-1 last week. Bernardo Silva (2x), Manuel Akanji and Julián Álvarez scored the goals for City.
Manchester City, where Dutchman Nathan Aké was missing due to an injury, played a very strong first half. The team of coach Pep Guardiola created a chance after a chance: they did within 25 minutes The Citizens no less than eight attempts on goal. Two of them, dangerous headers from Haaland, were beautifully stopped by Thibout Courtois. But the Belgian goalkeeper had no chance in the 23rd minute when Silva convincingly shot the ball into the top right corner: 1-0.
The first threat from the Spanish side came not much later from Toni Kroos. The German veteran, who still forms the midfield of Real Madrid with Luka Modric, took a shot from a long distance, but his shot hit the top of the crossbar. It turned out to be nothing more than a Madrilenian pinprick. Manchester City continued to dominate – the English had 72 percent possession in the first half – and came 2-0 in the 36th minute. A blocked shot from Ilkay Gündogan hit Silva on the head. The Portuguese headed in his second goal in a controlled manner.
No repeat of 2022
Manchester City went into halftime with a margin of two after a game and a half. Thoughts flashed back to last year’s semi-final, when Real Madrid spectacularly reversed a similar deficit to Manchester City. Real Madrid won the final a few weeks later.
However, the goalscorers of that time, Karim Benzema and Rodrygo, now remained invisible at Real Madrid. More importantly: the difference in strength was simply too great in the second half on Wednesday. It is true that Real Madrid became dangerous from a free kick by David Alaba, but Carlo Ancelotti’s team did not get much further. The game seemed decided when Akanji made it 3-0, and it was final when Alvarez, replacing Haaland, scored the fourth goal in stoppage time. The Norwegian did not score, but is likely to be the top scorer in the Champions League this season.
Manchester City, which has had an owner from the Emirates since 2008 and thus grew into a top European club, has never won the Champions League. Once before, the northern English club reached the final, in 2021, but then lost to Chelsea. The perfect chance of the final victory now beckons against the Internazionale of Denzel Dumfries and Stefan de Vrij, which won twice against fellow townsman AC Milan in the other half. The final will take place on June 6 in Istanbul.