A 1-1 draw at the Santiago Bernabeu in our first leg semi-final meeting leaves the tie finely poised ahead of a titanic clash at the Etihad Stadium to determine who will qualify for the final.
Arguably against the run of play, Vinicius Junior’s venomous first-half strike opened the scoring for the hosts, but we equalised after the interval thanks to Kevin De Bruyne’s phenomenal first-time effort from 25-yards.
And there were a swathe of statistics to come from the exciting tie in Spain.
Take a look at the best numbers from the clash with Carlo Ancelotti’s side below…
KING KEVIN
De Bruyne’s wonderful fizzing strike, which cancelled out Vinicius’ opener, represented the Belgian’s seventh goal in the competition from outside the box.
This means out of his all-time Champions League tally of 14, 50% of those arrive away from the 18-yard line.
Since the classy midfielder joined the Club in 2015, no player has a higher percentage of goals from beyond the area in the competition.
His first arrived in another match of huge importance when his sweeping effort against Paris Saint-Germain booked our place in the 2016 semi-finals.
After a 2-2 first-leg draw in France, De Bruyne‘s effort from 20-yards secured a 1-0 home win.
GUNNING GREALISH
Jack Grealish’s sensational 2023 show no signs of stopping and the wing wizard once again showcased his exceptional ability at the Bernabeu.
Locked in a fierce battle with the evergreen Dani Carvajal for the majority of the tie, the England midfielder still created more chances than any other player.
The 27-year-old produced six opportunities for his colleagues in red and black - four more than the second highest total.
EXPERIENCED HEADS
In a game of such magnitude, experience and nous in an electric cauldron of football such as the Santiago Bernabeu is almost worth its weight in gold.
Perhaps, then, it was no surprise to see Pep Guardiola select our oldest starting XI in a Champions League fixture for over four years.
The average age of those who started against Real was 28 years and 262 days, the highest since a 1-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in April 2019 (28 years and 360 days).
YOU SHALL NOT PASS
Ahead of the fixture with Ancelotti’s side, one of the most intriguing duels was the potential battle between Kyle Walker and Vinicius down the right-hand-side.
And it didn’t disappoint with the England defender matching the Brazilian for pace and flair throughout the encounter.
In total, Walker won more duels (eight), made more tackles (six), and produced more clearances (five) than any other City player.
What’s more, the electric full back wasn’t dribbled past once across the 90 minutes.
DEFENCE BREACHED
Not only did De Bruyne’s phenomenal goal set up a mouth-watering tie at the Etihad next week, but it also breached a watertight Los Blancos defence.
By equalising in the Spanish capital, the Belgian ace became the first player to score against Real Madrid in 413 minutes of Champions League football.
The last goal they conceded was in their 5-2 first leg Round of 16 success over Liverpool, before producing a 1-0 win over Jurgen Klopp’s side ahead in the second leg.
Ancelotti’s men then booked their place in the semi-finals with a 4-0 aggregate victory against Chelsea in the last-eight.
SENSATIONAL CITY
Following last night’s draw, City are now impressively unbeaten in 21 successive games.
Across those results, we’ve drawn only four matches while scoring 61 goals along the way.
Meanwhile, we also remain undefeated in this season’s Champions League campaign with six wins and five draws.
Such formidable form has seen us compete on three fronts as we sit top of the Premier League table, firmly in our last-four European tie with Real and in the FA Cup final.
