City and Real Madrid all-square after Champions League thriller

In a rollercoaster game, the two sides exchanged leads to set up a mouthwatering second leg in eight days’ time.

Bernardo Silva fired City ahead inside two minutes before the home side hit back quickly with a an own goal from Ruben Dias and deflected prod from Rodrygo.

Pep Guardiola’s side enjoyed the better of the second half and wonderful goals from Phil Foden and Josko Gvardiol regained our advantage.

But Federico Valverde’s brilliant volley rescued a draw as we extended our unbeaten run in the Champions League to 22 matches.

WHAT HAPPENED

City travelled to the Santiago Bernabeu for the third time in three years and the atmosphere was ear-splitting on our previous two matches.

The volume was raised by another notch with Madrid given permission to close the roof for the match by UEFA.

However, it was silenced inside two minutes with a quickfire strike after Jack Grealish was hacked down by Aurelien Tchouameni who picked up a yellow card in the process ruling him out of the second leg.

With the home side expecting a cross, Bernardo surprised keeper Andriy Lunin by whipping the free-kick into the near post from 25 yards and the Ukrainian was unable to get back in time to claw it away.

DOWNLOAD THE MAN CITY APP

In a frantic opening quarter of an hour, Real tried to respond immediately but City escaped the pressure for Erling Haaland to force a save from Lunin while Grealish was blocked with his follow-up.

However, two unfortunate deflections in the space of two minutes saw the home side overturn our advantage.

Eduardo Camavinga cut in from the right wing and his 20-yard strike was heading wide until flicked off Dias, wrongfooting Stefan Ortega Moreno.

Moments later, Rodrygo raced onto Vinicius Junior’s throughball and his poked effort flicked Manuel Akanji, diverting it past the City keeper.

City enjoyed more of the possession as the game settled down, although Real tried to break at pace and Vinicius twice brought saves from Ortega.

Neat passing between Rodrigo and Mateo Kovacic carved out an opening for Grealish but Tchouameni blocked his effort from 10 yards.

With three quarters of the tie still to play, there was no need to press the panic button and City started the second half with an increased calmness and plenty of possession.

We finished the game with 60% of the ball and completed 657 passes to Madrid’s 392.

Foden became more of an influence moving inside from the right wing as City started to shift the Madrid players around the pitch.

REAL MADRID V CITY | MATCH GALLERY

Grealish whipped an early shot over the bar while Phil Foden and Bernardo both brought saves from Lunin just before the hour.

Real maintained their threat on the break with Rodrygo and Vinicius both threatening and Haaland sprinting back to halt another break.

But City kept their composure and were level on 66 minutes with a wonderful strike from Foden.

The 23-year-old whipped a thunderous effort into the top corner and celebrated wildly with Pep Guardiola and the City substitutes.

And just five minutes later, we were ahead with another brilliant this time from Gvardiol.

In truth, the Croatian’s first touch was a little loose but his second was sensational as his right foot thunderbolt arrowed beyond Lunin.

Madrid replied with their own impressive strike, Valverde smashing in a volley from the corner of the box.

That brough the home fans back to life and Bellingham and Dani Carvajal tried to push them forward.

And Guardiola was forced into a substitution when Foden hobbled off after being caught by Carmavinga, later saying it was a dead leg.

Finishing 3-3, it set up another huge game at the Etihad as the big matches keep coming. 

HERE WE GO AGAIN!

It was at a slightly later stage in 2023, but for the second year running Madrid and City will be honours even for the second leg.

Guardiola and his players certainly won’t be taking the mighty Madrid with so much quality in their line-up and Bellingham, Vinicius and Carmavinga all avoiding suspensions.

But the Spanish side will also arrive with memories of that remarkable performance almost 12 months ago when we won 4-0 at a cacophonous Etihad.

City have a phenomenal record at the Etihad in Europe where we haven’t lost in 30 games, but Real will certainly test that record in a game that can’t be missed. 

MAN OF THE MATCH

The running battle between Grealish and Carvajal was one of the most watchable clashes of last season’s battle between the two sides.

And the pair reprised their roles in another tough duel at the Bernabeu. 

Grealish’s close control was a constant out-ball for the Blues and Madrid were drawn into rash challenges to try to get the ball off him.

The winger showed his importance to the team, helping to keep the ball to cool down the clash and keep possession. 

TEAMS

REAL MADRID: Lunin; Carvajal, Tchouameni, Rudiger, Mendy; Camavinga, Valverde, Kroos (Brahim 72), Rodrygo (Modric 72), Bellingham, Vinicius (Joselu 86)

Subs not used: Kepa, Fran, Militao, Nacho, Lucas V, Ceballos, Fran Garcia, Guler

CITY: Ortega Moreno, Akanji, Stones, Dias (C), Gvardiol, Rodrigo, Kovacic, Bernardo, Foden (Alvarez 87), Grealish, Haaland

Subs not used: Ederson, Carson, De Bruyne, Doku, Gomez, Nunes, Bobb, Susoho, Lewis

PEP GUARDIOLA REACTION

“I don’t believe much in luck. It’s true at 1-0 we scored but a lot still had to happen.

“Be calm, move less, be safer with the ball and be exactly what we talk about. It’s 45 minutes and 90 minutes, a lot still to play, don’t lose the composure because sometimes you want to be crazy. We did well.

“We have to win the game [next week]. We have our people, it will be sold out and we need all of them and their energy during 90 minutes to beat the king of this competition. We’ll go for it. The people will be there.”

GVARDIOL REACTION

“What a game. The first time for me to play here at this stadium, an amazing atmosphere and we take the result and look forward to the game at home.

“Last season I faced [Real Madrid] with RB Leipzig and this is a different team. I enjoyed playing, we knew it would be difficult but that’s our quality to play with the ball and without it too.”

WHAT IT MEANS

We go into the quarter-final second leg next week with the tie finely balanced. 

Our rematch at the Etihad Stadium kicks off at 20:00 (UK) on Wednesday and the visitors will be without Tchouameni who is suspended.

WHAT’S NEXT

City return to Premier League action on Saturday with a 15:00 (UK) kick-off against Luton Town.

Just a point separates the top three sides and City have the chance to move top and put pressure on Arsenal and Liverpool who both play the following day.