City ran out 4-3 winners in what proved a blockbuster Etihad clash.
Kevin De Bruyne gave us the lead after just 90 seconds through a lovely-cushioned header.
Gabriel Jesus continued his fine goal-scoring form, smashing home from inside the area to double our lead before Karim Benzema halved the deficit, sweeping home Ferland Mendy‘s cross.
Phil Foden restored our two-goal advantage following the break, heading home Fernandinho‘s cross, only for Vinicius Junior to draw Madrid back to within one just two minutes later.
Bernardo then rifled in a stunning strike with ten minutes to go, which looked to have secured us a healthy two-goal cushion for the return leg at the Santiago Bernabeu.
However, an unfortunate handball from Aymeric Laporte awarded the visitors a penalty, leaving Benzema to convert from the spot, which will see us head to Madrid with a slender but crucial advantage.
The Portuguese midfielder said though disappointed we didn’t hold a more significant lead in the tie, he was still full of optimism after a great performance from Pep Guardiola‘s side.
Bernardo said: “The first 20 minutes we were so so good, they way we press, the way we control the game, the way we create the chances and over the 90 minutes it felt we could have won with a better result.
“Unfortunately we were not able to take advantage of our two goal differences that we had, we had three times this difference, but that is the Champions League.
“We play against one of the best teams in the world and it is still a good score for us, 4-3, one goal more than them and now onto the next game.
“I felt our fans should be proud of us, the team should be proud of the work that we did.”
Fellow goal-scorer Foden echoed Silva’s optimism, but feels there is work to do for City heading into the away leg.
“For the fans watching it was a great game of football,” he explained.
“It was end-to-end at times, like Bernardo said we started really well in the first twenty minutes and we could’ve killed them off.
“I had a chance and Riyad (Mahrez) had a great chance as well to kill them off and in these games, we are going to have to take our chances more.
“We were coming up against a team that has won the Champions League many times, we know if we give the ball away in dangerous areas they are going to punish us so it is something we need to work on in the second leg and the game is still on.”
