This was a Champions League classic that produced a quintessential modern storyline. It was almost as if the last decade of the competition had been distilled, as one of that era’s great players also put on a display for the ages.
This was yet another knockout tie when a Pep Guardiola team should have been out of sight, and yet another when Real Madrid should have been knocked out of the competition. Both, as has so often been the case, remain in the balance after a 4-3 result that ebbed and surged in so many different ways, almost serving as multiple different types of matches in one. It had that much in it, and could still have had more goals.
