Manchester City drew 1-1 (1-1) against Real Madrid in the semi-final duel between the alpha teams on Tuesday (09.05.23). Man City looked dominant, but Real kept calm. First Vini Jr. scored, then Kevin de Bruyne hit back.
Vinicius Jr. made it 1-0 (36th) with a well-placed long-range shot when Manchester made nothing countable from their initial superiority. Surprisingly, Erling Haaland didn’t make it either, the Norwegian record goalscorer in the English Premier League was almost completely unregistered for the entire game. But Kevin de Bruyne struck: A tight low shot – also covered – hit an untenable (67th).
“Maybe it’s okay somewhere, we might have been closer”said Real professional David Alaba on Amazon Prime, “We have the opportunity to make it 2-0 and then the whole thing looks a little different. Now we’re 1-1, which is definitely a bit bitter somewhere.”
Man City with a furious start
Pep Guardiola’s match plan was quickly deciphered: forward without frills! The team around Captain Ilkay Gündogan got to work accordingly.
Only one team played in the first quarter of an hour: Kevin de Bruyne opened the fireworks, which was fired on to Real goalkeeper Thibaut Coutois from the eighth minute. A little later it was Rodri, then Erling Haaland, who had previously been well deregistered, tried it with his head shortly afterwards. The Belgian was always the winner in the Madrilenians’ box, whose shots were goal-oriented but not top-class.
inaccuracies make Real stronger
Only in the 18th minute did Real get closer to the goal of the visitors from England: Rodrygo sent Benzema through, but Ederson in City’s goal was alert.
Real was slowly getting stronger, also because mistakes crept into the game structure at Manchester. Suddenly, the Brits were playing inaccurate passes in midfield, but worse were sometimes catastrophic mistakes in front of their own defence: Rodri let Vini Jr. steal the ball from him, who played a precision pass from the left to Benzema, but central defender Ruben Dias did so at the last moment before the goal monster cleared. Then Jack Grealish made a blunder that didn’t result in the hosts creating an opportunity. Nevertheless: Man City lost the complete control of the game that was shown at first, Real became stronger and stronger.
Then the meanwhile not undeserved, but still somewhat surprising lead for Real Madrid: left-back Eduardo Camavinga rushed forward half-left with a courageous attack, his pass to Vini Jr. in the middle was perfect. The Brazilian took a few steps to the center and shot from about 17 meters from undercover. Vini Jr. aimed a right left into the goal, Ederson stretched but was powerless.
City’s hopes for Haaland, but Real with a move
Manchester City’s hopes naturally rested on Haaland, who set a new record with 35 goals in the current Premier League season. But Carlo Ancelotti, the living legend on the Real Madrid coaching chair, let captain Toni Kroos play as a clearer in front of his own back four – and Haaland’s paths were blocked. “We have also signed off his players”said the German international Antonio Rüdiger on prime.
City came out of the dressing room motivated and played happily forward at the beginning of the second period. But all energy was lost again and Real came back into the game. But just as the spectators in the famous Santiago Bernabeu stadium were waiting for the second goal of the “Royal”, de Bruyne struck: launched by Gündogan, the Belgian threw the ball flat into the goal for his compatriot to equalize for Manchester City.
As a result, it was again exclusively Real who played for the winning goal. But Benzema once again failed to hit Courtois with a header from a suspected offside position, David Alaba snipped a free-kick over the box from the inside right, and substitute Tchouameni shot over it from distance.
Yellow for Kroos – and Ancelotti
There were some skirmishes in the committed game – above all between Jack Grealish and Dani Carvajal. But the prudent Portuguese referee Artur Soares Dias left it at warnings. But when Toni Kroos, in his capacity as “vacuum cleaner”, violently cleared Ilkay Gündogan, the referee drew the yellow box – an unusual picture given the German’s very disembodied game for many years.
Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti receives a yellow card
A little later it also hit the “Mister”, coach Carlo Ancelotti: Because of too violent complaints, the Italian also saw yellow – an absolute rarity for the coach, who is famous for his serenity.
In the end, the two alpha teams ended in a draw, and the decision on who will advance to the final will be made in Manchester next Wednesday. Guardiola’s team is warned: A year ago, City lost the second leg in the second leg after extra time.