Real Madrid and Manchester City ended in a 1-1 draw in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final.
Kevin de Bruyne silenced the Santiago Bernabéu home crowd. PDO
It was only half an hour before the Champions League semi-final, when Real Madrid fans nervously started whistling to themselves.
Until then, Manchester City had simply played with the host team. But its management had been sterile. The supporters of the home team may not have seen well how the head coach Carlo Ancelotti the tactical package was eliminating the most important City players.
Kevin de Bruyne was in complete darkness. Erling Haaland fell out of scoring range, and Dani Carvajal kicked the game humor From Jack Grealish out.
Worst of all, City’s Portuguese star let him down Bernardo Silva. The Portuguese didn’t bother to rush Eduardo Camavingan take off. The Frenchman found his inner robertocarlos and launched into a one-man rush.
After a 40-meter run, Camavinga passed the game forward. Vinícius is probably the best soccer player in the world right now. Brassi proved his worth with a heat-seeking missile that rose steadily on its way to the top corner.
De Bruyne equalized
City manager Pep Guardiola couldn’t believe what he saw. He had prepared his team perfectly, planned excellent tactics and instructed his players to prepare for the atmosphere of the Santiago Bernabéu.
The story continues after the picture
Vinícius Júnior showed his worth with a great opening goal. PDO
But he had a 14-time Champions League winner in front of him. Real Madrid always comes alive at this stage of the season.
City dominated possession but Madrid took the lead with their only shot on target in the opening period.
Although Guardiola knew from his own experience that this pair of matches could not be won in the first leg – but it could indeed be lost. That’s why the Catalan didn’t want to hurry with his changes.
In the second episode, the story turned on its head. On the field, control seemed to pass to Real Madrid, and for a while it already seemed that the Whites’ 1-0 lead would have been deserved.
And that’s when de Bruyne struck from the shadows. İlkay Gündoğan took advantage of Madrid’s excitement and cheated the Belgian with a shot from 25 meters. His move had to be perfect for it to pass his national team mate Thibaut Courtois.
It couldn’t have been hit any better.
“Positive result”
Both goals spoke the same language. It was about football in its highest form. The teams gave a demonstration of the subtleties of modern football in the semi-final played at turbo speed, and talking about the moral final match of the Champions League is not an exaggeration at all.
In the last minute of the match, City veskari Ederson repelled by Aurélien Tchouamén the bombing. It was justified as neither deserved to lose this match.
– The result is open. We played well. We already knew in advance how they would play and they had no more chances, Luka Modric commented to Cadena Ser radio.
– The result is positive. We will go to Manchester and give it our all. We can still win.