Things were finely poised between Pep Guardiola’s men, within touching distance of a third successive Premier League title and already in June’s FA Cup final, and a Real Madrid side hoping to retain their status as the reigning European champions.
With the two sides playing out a 1-1 draw in the Spanish capital eight days prior, it was a straight shootout in front of an electric Etihad Stadium crowd.
City didn’t just step up to that occasion, they simply blew Madrid away, and legendary sports broadcaster Clive Tyldesley was there to call the action from the commentary box.
A first half brace from Bernardo Silva saw the hosts go in two goals to the good at the break, with Manuel Akanji then seemingly putting the tie to bed midway through the second 45.
But it was City’s final goal, a stoppage time strike from Julian Alvarez after a cleverly worked move with fellow substitute Phil Foden, that typified the incredible events which had unfolded before Tyldesley’s eyes.
He reflects: “I just remember the two substitutes coming on and conjuring up the final goal. It was just the perfect finale to a real exhibition of everything that Manchester City are about.
“It wasn’t that kind of precise technical football that perhaps City are renowned for, it was a full-blooded victory. There was a real soul about that performance and about the atmosphere that night.
“Real Madrid did look tired and weary, almost as if it was a bridge too far, but only because City made it like that.
“It was the energy, and that’s what was difficult. City have the ability to make the remarkable look fairly routine, but there was nothing at all routine about that victory over Real Madrid.
“The place was bouncing, the players responded and the energy, drive and zest in the performance was a little bit different.”
City were, of course, no strangers to facing Real Madrid in a European semi-final.
The year before, a bizarre and remarkable turnaround in second leg stoppage time had denied Pep Guardiola’s men successive Champions League final appearances.
Rewind back to 2016 and City had fallen at the last four stage against Los Blancos in Manuel Pellegrini’s final season at the helm as well, losing by just a single goal over the two encounters.
Madrid, having perhaps got to the 2022 final against the odds after remarkable late turnarounds against Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and City, were hoping to reach the showpiece occasion for the 17th time in their history.
The Spanish side are the undisputed heavyweights of the competition, but the manner in which Guardiola’s men shattered that illusion felt like a major moment to Tyldesley.
“To beat the team that can play badly and still beat you, and to do it so gloriously [was remarkable],” he explains.
“I think that was probably the night where I thought, City fans thought watching on, and maybe the players thought: ‘I tell you what, if we can put these away in the way we have tonight, the extraordinary Real Madrid, [we can win the Champions League]’.
“Real Madrid had incredible players, but there was that sort of mystery that enshrouded them in the previous season, when they kept finding ways to win games that they had lost against English teams, including City.
“To go back there again, it was almost like a recurring nightmare of being better than Real Madrid but being unable to beat them.
“So, to put that away in the style that they did [was significant].”
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