Real Madrid played out a 0-0 stalemate against Manchester City in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League semi-final at the Etihad Stadium.
It was very much a cautious Real side which entered the match on Tuesday evening with superstar Cristiano Ronaldo ruled out of the tie with a thigh injury. Indeed without his services, Los Blancos struggled to create genuine goalscoring chances, with Welshman Gareth Bale unable to provide the extra creative element needed in his absence.
However the hosts also found scoring opportunities hard to come by with the closest of the match falling to Kevin De Bruyne, whose stoppage time strike was pushed over the bar by goalkeeper Keylor Navas.
Yet it was keeper Joe Hart who kept City in the tie with two spectacular saves, denying Casemiro and Pepe. His efforts will allow Manuel Pellegrini’s men to travel to the Santiago Bernebau with a clean sheet and the best possible chance of progressing to the final in Milan.
Los Galacticos will hope the home advantage as well as the inclusion of the Portuguese wiz will further aid their Champions League campaign.
UCL – Player Ratings – Manchester City 0 Real Madrid 0
The heroics of Joe Hart
There can be no denying the Englishman saved his side from a last-gasp deficit prior to next week’s clash in Spain. However, in the first half, he was required to do very little, such was the lack of attacking firepower from the visitors. Hart’s first save came just after the half time break when he denied a Sergio Ramos header.
Despite his efforts, his side could not manage to break the deadlock. Indeed City have only managed three shots on target in their last three home UCL home matches (one per game).
Real attempted to take advantage of this in the final 20 minutes and attempted to utilise their prowess from set pieces to do so. Two attempts from corners by defender Pepe and midfielder Casemiro were saved by Hart to keep his side in the contest.
While City will not able to take the upper hand from their home leg, a clean sheet against Real is almost as good a result.
Manchester City and the loss of David Silva
City were lacklustre at best in the final third during the first half. Their cause was not helped by the injury to Spaniard David Silva at half time, whose pace was key to their creativity. As a result, Argentinian Sergio Aguero had less than adequate service provided and managed only one shot on goal at the beginning of the second half.
De Bruyne moved to the left after playing in the number 10 position, but did not have nearly as much impact as Silva. Despite Jesus Navas’ attempts down the right-flank, the creativity was simply not present with the City squad.
The hosts as a whole will need to improve ahead of the final leg of the clash.
No strong threat in Ronaldo absence
One would think that a team boasting some of the world’s best would still manage without the 31-year-old.
Apparently not.
It seemed as though players were not committing forward and hence struggled to create genuine chances. Bale was not able to provide his side with the creative spark necessary to open up the City defence. Two nearly-goals from set pieces was too little, too late for Los Galacticos.
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