New Delhi: Before the clash between Manchester City and Real Madrid, the Etihad Stadium had a huge flag that mocked Vinicius Junior and Real Madrid losing the Ballon d’Or to Rodri. The message read “Stop crying your heart out” with a photo of Rodri along with the trophy in the ceremony which the Los Blancos had boycotted out of protest. It was a dangerous dig at one of the most successful outfits of the competition.
At the end of the game, it was City who were at the receiving end of a 3-2 loss, giving their La Liga opponent a goal advantage when they play the second leg of the play-off for the knockout phase of the Champions League. Real were a confident outfit with the intelligence to turn a certain 2-1 loss in the 85 minutes into a win.
🚨✨ Vinicius Jr: “I saw the banner from Man City fans… and it motivated me even more”.
“Whenever rival fans do things, it gives me more strength to play a great game”. pic.twitter.com/ZGMl4FCSHp
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) February 11, 2025
Playing against a Real, any sense of anxiety is an open invitation for being targeted. Erling Halaand’s 19th minute was drawn by Kylian Mbappe at the mark of an hour of play. Though Haaland managed to put the hosts back in the lead with a penalty strike in the 80th minute in front of a fluent Madrid it proved less. The moment came when goalkeeper Ederson failed to clear and in a roundabout way helped Brahim Diaz to score the second goal.
The winner came when a loose pass from Mateo Kovacic for Rico Lewis was grabbed by Vinicius and Jude Bellingham ensured that Madrid went as the ultimate winners, scoring in the injury time, with Ederson out of the ground.
Underconfident Manchester City
City were looking less sure of themselves in the second and once Diaz scored the equalizer, the hosts clearly had their nerves broken. The repeated pattern for City has been that the game is never won until the final whistle and that is where Real are completely opposite. It is the fifth time they have lost a lead this campaign and third time in the Champions League.
City lost a lead on matchday four of the Champions League when they couldn’t manage to keep an early lead against Sporting CP ultimately ending a 4-1 loss. This was followed by a 3-3 draw against Feyenoord where the side had a three-goal lead until the 53rd minute. PSG managed to upturn a two-goal deficit on matchday seven against City, into a 4-2 win. The Cityzens have now conceded eight times in the final 16 minutes on five outings of the Champions League.
Many would believe that Pep Guardiola’s side needs a complete restoration in a team that may have played too many games and are far from being done with the number of games added to their calendar. Both teams have been battling injuries but Man City have been finding it hard to cope without Rodri who was included for the Champions League squad. He was the factor City have constantly missed especially during the later stages of the game. City were luckless early with Jack Grealish going off the pitch in the 30th minute with an injury.
At the end of the game, the defending champions were in the lead for less than two minutes but it was what mattered for them. Vinicius had shut the Etihad Stadium with Real Madrid providing the drama as always. At Bernabeu, given City’s recent collapses, it would be an uphill task to challenge Madrid, which has often been ruthless to visitors.
What Pep Guardiola needs before the clash at Bernabeu
City looked like a tired side in front of Real, especially in the second half, when they took control of the game and kept creating chances before Mbappe’s strike. While there is little doubt in City’s ability to make life hard for Real, this season does feel that City are at the end of the line after years of success.
Ederson after serving the side for years between the post looked defenceless. Both Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva have entered their 30s and are showing the effects of age with their performance. John Stones for example while trying to make City’s defence strong wasn’t good enough in front of Mbappe and Rodrygo.
🚨🔵 Pep Guardiola: “Many times this has happened this season… many times”.
“It’s just bad decisions, that’s all”, he told Prime Video Sport. pic.twitter.com/XkwDV84OTv
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) February 11, 2025
Guardiola noted that such situations can happen in front of teams like Real and confessed their second-half attack was too fast. He admitted that the team had made repeated bad decisions when it came to the technical side. Guardiola further added that while in the past they had been “machines” this season they just haven’t managed to be stable.
Guardiola is faced with the task of bringing back the glory days for City and he himself felt that without taking credit for the opponent’s brilliance, the side hadn’t received composure from him so far this season.
Manchester City will travel to Santiago Bernabeu stadium for the second leg with a goal in deficit and the Premier League side’s latest collapses are worrying factor. Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
