Manchester City will take a 4-3 lead into the second leg of their Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid after an extraordinary game in Manchester.
Bernardo Silva
Photo: Offside Sports Photography
City took the lead after 94 seconds, the fastest goal scored in a Champions League semi-final, with Kevin De Bruyne’s diving header.
Pep Guardiola’s side doubled their lead in the 11th minute through Gabriel Jesus, the Brazilian collecting a pass from De Bruyne and spinning away from David Alaba before drilling home.
Real got back in the game thanks to a familiar source — Karim Benzema scoring a goal out of nothing as he guided a Ferland Mendy cross into the far, bottom corner with the most delicate of steers after 33 minutes.
City restored a two-goal advantage eight minutes after the restart with veteran Fernandinho, on as a substitute, picking out Phil Foden with a perfectly weighted cross which the England international nodded home.
Two minutes later though Fernandinho was caught out as he allowed compatriot Vinicius Jr to break away past him on the touchline and the winger sprinted from halfway deep into the area before poking the ball past Ederson to make it 3-2.
Yet again City found a way through, Bernardo Silva beating Thibaut Courtois with a superb drive into the top corner in the 74th.
But there was still more drama to come as City’s Aymeric Laporte was penalised when the ball struck his arm in the area and Benzema converted the penalty with a cheeky chip down the middle eight minutes from the end.
“It was a fantastic game for both sides. We did many good things. Unfortunately we conceded goals and we could not score more. But it is two games and we have another one in one week,” said City manager Guardiola.
Real’s Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti had similar mixed feelings to Guardiola after an entertaining night and left with some regrets but there was a hint of optimism in his analysis.
“As a football fan, it was a fantastic game of football. As a manager of Madrid, I have to take into consideration that we … conceded two goals very early. But we take three goals to the Bernabeu. We now hope to get to the final.”
Liverpool and Villarreal will meet in the other semi-final at Anfield on Wednesday.
-Reuters
For all the latest Sports News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
Denial of responsibility! NewsBit.us is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.
