Man City players and fans delivered on Real Madrid's Etihad worry but learned a crucial lesson
| Published date | 18 April 2024 |
| Publication title | Manchester Evening News: Web Edition Articles (England) |
Instead, they will look back on a raucously brilliant night at the Etihad and wonder how it was Real Madrid's players celebrating in front of a delirious away end at a little before 11pm. The count stopped at 67% possession, 33 shots to eight and 18 corners to one. But heartbreak ensued. The perfect legacy will have to wait.
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Guardiola will know this is just what Real do. This is now Europe's premier rivalry, but City are still learning on this stage. Real are the kings. They found a way to survive.
It still felt telling that when Antonio Rudiger's final penalty hit the back of the net, after a moment of mourning, the Etihad broke into applause. This wasn't a technically proficient performance as City delivered against Real last season, but it was jaw-dropping in other ways. The power of their second-half performance, in particular, will live long in the memory.
It was a night when players and fans were in unison. If last season's semi-final second leg was a demonstration of City's brilliance -a high-water mark of performance under Guardiola -this was what Champions League knockout games are supposed to feel like.
You could argue City haven't really had that in front of fans at the Etihad for a while. When they have had a second leg here they have tended to be comfortable, either because the damage was done in the first leg or because they ran away with the game. This might have been the tautest, tensest European night at the Etihad since that crushing defeat to Tottenham five years ago. The final feelings were woundingly similar, as well.
It was gripping to the point of unbearable at times. When people search for the phrase knife edge in years to come, they should just find this game. It felt almost constantly in the balance. A battle between City's domination of territory, that feeling that they always tend to find a way, against the might of Real Madrid. A team that has lived all there is to live in this competition and wrote another chapter on Wednesday.
They are the "kings of this competition" as both Guardiola and Bernardo called them around this quarter-final. They are also incredibly dangerous on the break and City had...
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