Real Madrid welcomed Machester City to the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday evening for the first semi of the UEFA Champions League crash.
14 times Champions, Real Madrid are hoping to make it 15 times in the completion while Manchester City has never won the coveted trophy in its history. The crash which was a repeat of a similar fixture when the two teams met two years ago is always thrilling to watch and in the present much more because of the arrival of Erling Brut Haaland.
Haaland has 51 goals in all competitions this season and is thought to be the key to unlocking Machester City’s maiden European glory but had a rough time in Spain at the hands of former Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger who made him silent for the better time of the night.
Vinicius Junior opened up the scoring for the home side in the 37th minute with a vicious strike past his Brazillian teammate and Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson Moraes. City had the better part of the ball controlling 68% of the play while Madrid sat back and waited for the visitors to make a mistake and launch a counterattack.
Real Madrid seemed to be back in the game in the second half by taking the fight to Manchester City’s half but did not manage to break the opponent’s defense. The city would get back into the game courtesy of a Kevin De Bruynes strike past Thibout Courtous in the 68th minute.
Real Madrid had much more venomous attacks but Ederson managed to keep the game level with brilliant saves to deny Karim Benzema and Tchouameni.
Manchester City will welcome Real Madrid to the Etihad next week with all to play for in order to advance to the finals. The last time Real Madrid met Citry they were on the verge of disqualification in the dying minutes but pulled themselves back in a spin of less than ten minutes. Pep Guardiola is aware of the threat Real poses but hopes they don repeat the same.
The winner of this draw will meet either Inter Milan or Ac Milan who play tomorrow in the finals.
