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Manchester City and Real Madrid are possibly the two defining clubs of the last decade. Both have reigned on their respective domains, the Premier League and the Champions League, with unprecedented supremacy. The confrontations between the two have become annual rituals that determine which one can claim the title of the best team in the world. But while most of the names and faces of the current bond of the city of the city are relatives of those iconic matches of the recent past, if the first Tuesday game of its UCL Knockout playoff reminded us of something, it is how Under their usual standard these are the teams have been this year, specifically at the back.
The advantage of the defensive fragility of both teams is that Tuesday’s game was a blow for neutrals and enemies equally. Because this is still Real Madrid, visitors ended up winning a 3-2 Granstormer, scoring twice in the last 10 minutes to win a game in which they fell a goal twice. One can attribute it to the infamous black magic of Madrid, my dad shortly after the game, sending me a text message “is the champions. Everyone plays, Madrid wins.” (“It’s the Champions League. Everyone plays, Madrid wins”), but it was simpler than that. While City is plunged into a field in the country In the case of Rodrygo, he generally terrified the opposition even without contributing directly to the score sheet.
The irony here is that the game really began on reverse of its eventual narrative. In the first 18 minutes, it was the defense of the city, reinforced with five central backups in the initial alignment, which remained firm against a flood in Madrid, one that continued to culminate in poor finishes of that line with an front full of stars. The city goalkeeper, Ederson deserves accessories, because he was massive to start the game. (Spoiler: Eventually would return those accessories before the game ended). In the 11th minute, Vinícius hit a perfect turn with the ball near the midfield and then ran an almost perfect ball to a mbappé. Although the angle was not ideal, he would have expected the Frenchman to hit the background of the network, but Ederson did well to corner a shot. A minute later, in a little omen, Ederson was caught out of position when Ferland Mendy and Rodrygo played a careless but effective that ended with Mendy shooting Nathan Aké. The city alarm bells were playing, but the trembling defense did enough, and soon the most boasted attack did its job.
In the aforementioned 18, it was the defense turn of Madrid to begin the landslides. After Erling Haaland left a long ball and handed it to Jack Grealish, the English end hit an elevated ball in the box, and Madrid’s defense was completely forgot about Josko Gvardiol, a natural central defender who played left that surprisingly has been one of the best in the city. attackers throughout the season. The great man chesto La Cruz de Galaish towards the road of Haaland, who did not make a shot in distant posts for the first game.
The rest of the first half developed mainly the same. Madrid continued loading in the city’s goal with a fluid attack, only to be disappointed by a last -left -handed tacle combination, poor finish and the Ederson shooting stop. Even so, however, for both sides, a 1-0 score that entered half was not the worst in the world. City could be happy with its leadership, while Madrid could find breath in the ease with which it was creating opportunities, the type of possibilities that eventually become goals and points, especially for Madrid, especially in this competition.
And yet! It was the city that would call the door first in the second half, with Haaland hitting the post about 30 seconds. Credit to the city, which often this season has seen its complacency while it is ahead leads to capitulations: instead of sitting and focusing on soaking all the pressure of Madrid, citizens were still looking to punish the improvised four of Real, which due to Injuries presented two natural midfielders (Aurélien Tchouaméni and Federico Valverde) and a recently promoted academy player (Raúl Asencio). Unfortunately, however, City’s front approach could not underpin his leak defense, and if you give a Mbappé caliber player enough opportunities, he will eventually make you pay.
The apparently inevitable finally happened in the 60th minute. A free kick of Valverde hit the wall and fell to Dani Ceballos, who saw Mbappé making a race with open space. Aké completely lost the only man who absolutely could not lose in the box, and although Mbappé had a pretty comic mishit in its end, he obtained enough to direct the ball to the other side of the goal and even the score.
The objective had an immediate effect on the flow of parties. In the next six minutes, Madrid repeatedly splashed the target of Ederson only to find the Brazilian gloves or, in the case of Valverde, the distant post is lost by little. Somehow, City remained quickly and maintained the level of score, and again, the hosts would be the ones that would attack below. In the 77th minute, Ceballos closed in Phil Foden fair Within the box, a clear fault that Foden skilled skillfully into a penalty when entering the area just before Ceballos crashed into him. Haaland turned the kick into the stain, and if the score had finished 2-1, I don’t think any of the teams had been too disappointed.
But Madrid has always had something for late European returns, and this cursed side of the city cannot stop cushioning the late objectives, so fireworks were only starting. In the 86th minute, Ederson, who went from the man of the game to the goat (it is not the type of CAPS) of the game in a little less than 10 minutes, he found himself in a great position to block a shot of wine angle wine, But the goalkeeper could not lift his arms on time to stop the ball away from danger. Instead, the shot was recovered from his chest and fell directly to the path of the former attacker of the city Brahim Díaz, who bounced at the bottom of the network. Ederson had the double failure for the target; The attack play began from a terrible decision to kick goal, in which the Brazilian pointed his pass to a very under pressure days, which could only hit the ball on the path of Jude Bellingham.
Six minutes later, Ederson would ruin everything again, with the help of Rico Lewis. Mateo Kovacic with bad resort to Lewis, while English was under severe wine pressure, but because of an idea as bad as Kovacic’s pass, Lewis’s mistake when not cleaning the ball or Rayar Vinícius was the most serious. Vinícius took Lewis’s gift and accused of Ederson. Instead of sitting and forcing Vinícius to a difficult shoot .
There are five goals of two highly estimated and talented teams, and it would be difficult to say that either of the five was No due to a severe defensive period. (Perhaps Haaland’s first game is the closest; while Madrid lost Gvardiol in the box, that is more excusable than any city he was doing in the three goals in Madrid, or Ceballos staining his Tackle in a dangerous area for the penalty ). For Madrid, this result establishes the return section in the Bernabéu very well, although the defensive failures that led to the city’s objectives will have to be solved, either next Wednesday or before addressing the competition.
As for the city, well, I don’t know how many times we can expect them to return the change before realizing that it probably will not happen. This is who has been City throughout the season, and its champions League campaign could end in the most emblematic way. Even if City handles the almost impossible, eliminating an advantageous Madrid in Madrid, the team does not play well enough to down to add a second trophy of the Champions League to its cabinet. The upper part of that equation played more or less well enough to win, but when the lower part is prone to such calamities, a winning game can become a vigil nightmare very quickly.
