Real Madrid vs Manchester City (1st leg) Analysis-
There is a reason why Real Madrid vs Manchester City has been considered the champions league game of the season for quite some time now. The Etihad witnessed another showdown of the giants of European football and it did not disappoint. The cityzens came prepared with tifos and miniature Ballon D’or but Madrid were in no mood to humour them. The game started with no official control from the either team in the first 10-15 minutes as Manchester City were trying to keep the ball and Real Madrid were ready to pounce on every possibility of counter-attack.
The first goal scored by Haaland came against the run of play and was beautifully constructed with make-shift switches in position by Manchester City who demonstrated why they are so dangerous even when they are not at their best.
After the goal, Manchester City enjoyed some good control over the ball and managed to keep the ball in Real’s half for 10-15 minutes. But once again, the course changed around 35 minutes in, Real started to keep more possession of the ball, the counters started to click, players started to find their feet. Rodrygo, Mbappe and Vini thrived on their raw pace and made life difficult for the city defenders.
The first half ended with relentless pressure from Madrid but to no avail. The half was full of excitement as neither team had complete control of the game and the mistakes were plenty but only a single goal to show for it.
The second half started where the first ended as Real was pressing with intent and defending with more structure. City were looking complacent and weak with the ball as the time passed by. The defence was tested again and again till 60th minute when finally Mbappe broke the lockdown with a mistimed shot. Mbappe scored the goal from an assist from Dani Ceballos who crossed the ball from a rebound. As the time passed by, the game became end-to-end, spaces started to crawl in and the game became more exciting as both teams started to attack the spaces.
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At 80th minute, Dani Ceballos committed a foul on Phil Foden inside the penalty area which resulted in a penalty which was easily slotted in by Erling Haaland. The game looked like it was going to go in City’s favour just when the super-sub Brahim Diaz scored for Real Madrid immediately coming off the bench.
Brahim, who came through youth ranks of Manchester’s academy, refused to celebrate but it was him who had silenced the whole of the Etihad. After the goal, it was the scariest 5 minutes of the game for City as they were not able to cope with Real’s tactics and another goal was looking imminent.
In the stoppage time, Jude Bellingham scored the inevitable goal which eventually made it 3-2 for the visitors to win.
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The match had moments filled with excitement and nervousness as the game was low on tactics and high on entertainment, this match-up has been the pick of the Champions League campaigns for the past couple of seasons and it still did not disappoint even though both the teams struggled defensively.
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