Real Madrid dashed Manchester City’s hopes of reaching their first ever Champions League final with a narrow 1-0 victory over two legs.
After a rather dull first fixture at the Etihad, Manuel Pellegrini knew that his side needed to score an away goal if they were to progress past the 10 time champions.
City’s hopes were dented early on when skipper Vincent Kompany was subbed off injured with less than 10 minutes played. Madrid took full advantage of the situation and attacked the opposition goal. It did not take too long for Los Blancos to open the scoring, although they were slightly fortunate. Gareth Bale was expertly played inside the penalty area by Dani Carvajal and the Welshman’s attempted cross deflected off Fernando and past Joe Hart to give the home side the lead. Despite going a goal down early, Manchester City were still on the back foot as Madrid pressed for more and arguably should have increased their lead.
The Citizens’ only real chance came late in the game with Sergio Aguero’s first real attempt, going narrowly over the bar. The visitors threw bodies ahead in the final minutes but were unsuccessful in producing any real tests for Keylor Navas, as Zinedine Zidane’s team held on to advance to the finals of the Champions League, where they will face local rivals Atletico Madrid for the second time in three seasons.
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City defensive problems
Not for the first time this season, the Sky Blues have faltered as a result of poor defending. Captain Kompany’s inclusion in the starting XI might have been a huge boost, but the Belgian barely lasted 10 minutes on the pitch before being forced off and replaced by Eliaquim Mangala. Nicolas Otamendi and Mangala started against Southampton last weekend and were torn apart by the Saints, who scored four past them. The duo were now responsible for keeping the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Bale and the rest of the Madrid attackers at bay for the best part of 80 minutes, which went as badly as one would expect. The centre-back’s struggled not only with the pace and ingenuity of Madrid, but also lacked a general sense of positioning.
Mangala was especially poor and looked like the most inexperienced player on the pitch and considering that the Frenchman had played in over 200 professional matches in his career, he simply cannot be forgiven. Otamendi was also at fault, as his negligence played Bale onside for the goal. Saying that City’s defending has been below par this season would be a huge understatement after witnessing some woeful performances at the back.
New manager Pep Guardiola will have to bring about more than just a few changes at the back in 2016-17, if he wants to have any real shot at being successful.
City outplayed, despite the score line
Real Madrid outplayed City for most of the 90 minutes, as the visitors could barely generate a decent shot on target. Los Blancos managed and impressive 15 chances over the 90, compared to City’s five. They also managed to hit the woodwork, while also putting the ball in the back of the net on two more occasions, only for the flag to be raised for offside both times.
Considering that Ronaldo only just returned and with Karim Benzema still injured, Madrid were understandably a bit rusty with their finishing, but created a number of chances nonetheless. Bale has been Madrid’s go to man in recent weeks and the 26-year-old did not disappoint. He caused chaos down the right-wing, opening up the City defence on numerous occasions. Gael Clichy was rarely in the right position to deal with the Welshman, while Mangala just did not know how to. They will need all the firepower available at their disposal as they chase the La Liga and Champions League title in the coming weeks.
Madrid derby once again
Just like the 2014 final of the competition, the two best teams from Madrid will face each other for the coveted trophy. The previous time, it was Real Madrid who famously came from a goal down to beat the rivals and claim their La Decima (10th title). Both teams have been in superb touch in recent weeks, with Real Madrid losing just twice since February, although one of those losses did come against Atletico. Diego Simeone’s team are also challenging for the La Liga title along with Barcelona and Real Madrid and have overcome two of Europe’s most powerful teams in the form of the Catalans and Bayern Munich, in their previous couple of rounds of the Champions League.
The fixture is undoubtedly a heavyweight as there is bound to be quality in all areas of the pitch. Can Real’s all-star attack overcome Atleti’s disciplined defence? It is only a matter of time that we find out in the highly anticipated final on the 28th of May at the San Siro in Milan.
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