MADRID – Manchester City and Real Madrid continued Tuesday night’s drama between Villarreal and Liverpool with a superb show of their own, with only moments left until City reached the final. RodrigoOvertime goals to send into overtime, 5-5 in total, with Karim Benzema He scored a penalty to send the Spanish giants and the LaLiga giants to the final in Paris on May 28th.
Report: Real Madrid stuns Man City and takes the last place in the Champions League
Here are three quick ideas for an amazing, amazing, and awesome game.
1. Real Madrid had another great escape
Real Madrid will face Liverpool in the Champions League final after a thrilling night at the Bernabeu during which Manchester City were just minutes away from advancing to Paris.
The city was about to book its place in Paris next Riyad MahrezThe second-half goal gave them a two-goal lead on aggregate, but substitute Rodrigo scored twice in two minutes in stoppage time and imposed extra time.
Karim Benzema, who had remained calm until that point, scored the decisive goal in the first half of extra time from a penalty kick to make it 3-1 last night and 6-5 on aggregate.
City dominated most of the night until the late full-back returned to Real Madrid and could have extended their lead ahead of Rodrygo’s first goal if Jack Grealish (The substitute in the second half) He took advantage of one of two chances. Instead, Real Madrid, crowned champions of Spain on Saturday, will have a chance to win their 14th Champions League title when they meet Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool on May 28 in a repeat of the 2018 final.
In the meantime, City are left regretting a golden opportunity to reach their second successive final and, having at one point been a treble challenger, they are now left to contend for the Premier League.
2. Real Madrid come back out of nowhere
Shortly after Mahrez’s 1-0 victory at City, Real Madrid fans started running out of the Bernabeu – but those who didn’t likely wanted to.
The Spanish side looked poised for a rather modest exit even for some unbelievable drama in injury time. Real Madrid didn’t hit a shot on goal in the first 90 minutes, but by the time six minutes into stoppage time City were hanging and needing to. Ederson To make a good save to prevent his team from going out in a dramatic fashion.
With Real Madrid needing two goals to force extra time, Rodrygo, as a substitute in the 68th minute, scored what seemed to be a consolation from Karim Benzema’s cross in the 90th minute but less than 60 seconds later, heading in another to make it 2-1 on the night and 5-5 In total. The goal almost raised the ceiling at the Bernabeu however there was still plenty of time for Rodrygo to get in again and almost ended the equalizer in regular time, with a Benzema penalty in extra time to rule the brilliant turnaround.
(And in all of that, a special note about Rodrygo: Having scored four goals in 79 games this season, he’s scored six in his last six, and none of those goals were as decisive as the ones he scored on Wednesday night. He also made history, as Rodrygo was The first player in the history of the tournament to score two goals after the 90th minute of a knockout match).
Real Madrid made a great comeback against PSG and Chelsea to reach the semi-finals, but that was the best of it.
3. Man City suffers another collapse in the Champions League
After disasters against Monaco, Liverpool, Tottenham and Lyon, City seemed to have ended their Champions League madness moments, but now they have another to add to the list. This may actually be on top of them all.
Their road to last season’s final was rather uneventful and they were quietly sent to Sporting Lisbon and Atletico Madrid this year on their way to the semi-finals, but when the pressure was high at the Bernabeu, they broke down. They had a two-goal lead when Mahrez scored, and even when he scored Rodrygo’s first goal, there was no need to panic. But instead, City called for more pressure, lost his head and paid a heavy price. They were so lucky that the equalizer reached overtime after Ederson called up another save before the end of stoppage time.
It is a result that will raise more questions about Guardiola and the Champions League. Although there are great teams at both Bayern Munich and City, he hasn’t lifted the trophy since he was at Barcelona. For a coach of his quality and someone who is used to collecting domestic trophies wherever he goes, it remains a strange anomaly that he has not won Europe’s biggest club competition in more than a decade.
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