six goals, a crazy scenario… Real Madrid and Manchester City part with a memorable draw in the quarter-finals first leg

Despite a spectacular evening in Madrid on Tuesday, neither team took the lead heading into the second leg.

The clash had all the appearance of a final before its time. He kept his promises. At the end of a fierce battle between the last two European champions, there was no winner other than the suspense at Santiago Bernabeu, Tuesday April 9. In the quarter-final first leg of the Champions League, Real Madrid and Manchester City both led but ended in a draw (3-3). Everything remains to be done before the return match next Wednesday in England. And all the ingredients are there for a show of the same quality to be offered at the Etihad Stadium.

The stakes are immense, especially since the last two teams to have qualified at the end of a confrontation between Cityzens and Merengues in the direct elimination phase of C1 ended up being crowned (Real in 2022, City in 2023 ). Tuesday evening, we also found at times the Real Madrid of two years ago, the unsinkable collective which had braved the most inhospitable storms on its way to its 14th coronation in C1. Trailing from the 2nd minute of play, following a mischievous free kick from Bernardo Silva, Carlo Ancelotti’s team did not panic.

Impressive 60 minutes of Real

She quickly equalized on her first attempt, signed by Eduardo Camavinga. The Frenchman tried his luck from afar and saw his shot unfortunately deflected by Ruben Dias (12th). Barely time to celebrate, Real plunged in quickly in transition, relying on the complicity of its two arrows Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo, who played very close to each other.

The second named scored the 2-1 goal after a call behind the defense, with a deflected shot again, which rolled very slowly into the cage of the unfortunate Stefan Ortega (14th). The starting of the German in place of Ederson was one of the two strong choices of Pep Guardiola Tuesday evening with the placing on the bench of Kevin de Bruyne, ill.

During an hour of play, Real Madrid never fell into the trap of intensity. Regrouped and patient, he only activated the pressing in key situations. Above all, he succeeded where City failed, by not allowing a single meter each time an opposing player received the ball in a dangerous position. Erling Haaland was muzzled by Antonio Rüdiger and probably finished the match with more hits suffered and duels lost than balls touched. A comical symbol of this lean evening for the Norwegian, one of the most striking moments of his performance will remain the involuntary slap he received from the French referee François Letexier at half-time.

Three exceptional strikes at the end of the match

Returning from the locker room, Madrid’s control continued before crumbling at the hour mark, perhaps due to a physical decline linked to the efforts made since the start of the match. Invisible until then, Phil Foden sent the ball into the top corner the only time he had time to control the ball in front of goal (66th). Josko Gvardiol imitated him five minutes later, with an equally powerful strike, but on the wrong foot (71st), to score his very first achievement with Manchester City.

Even though the standoff clearly turned against them, Real Madrid did not give up and Federico Valverde emerged to equalize at 3-3 (79th) and seal the score with a volley at the far post . But the result remains rather disappointing for the Madrilenians. Last year, in the semi-finals, the first leg had already resulted in a draw (1-1) in Madrid. Behind, the Cityzens had taught Carlo Ancelotti’s protégés a lesson on the pitch by inflicting a scathing blow on them (4-0).