Barney Ronay on Erling Haaland
A word from Ruben Dias ...
“I don’t know what to say,” says the Manchester City defender. “It’s very frustrating. We dominated the whole game. You go to penalties. The effort was there. We had chances. It’s a difficult one to take.
“You always end up doing everything to try to avoid penalties because that’s what they wanted. The team was there. We fought, we had our chances but it wasn’t our day.
“We had the chances. Sometimes the ball goes in, sometimes it doesn’t. Now we have to look forward at what’s to come in the season. We won’t have much time to rest. It’s a busy part of the season. Now is a time to be strong especially in the head. We’re still in two important competitions.”
Next up for City? An FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea at Wembley on Saturday.
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Real Madrid dethrone City to make semi-final
Match report: Kevin De Bruyne cancelled out Rodrygo’s opener to level the scores on aggregate but the champions went out on penalties after failing to make the most of their almost total dominance. David Hytner reports from the Etihad Stadium …
Bellingham on the pressure applied by City: “It’s so difficult,” he said. “They’re continuously probing with the ball, they move you around and they take you into positions that you sometimes don’t want to go. But you have to follow man for man, otherwise they’ll punish you, like they did for the goal.Most teams would fall apart when they get on top of you like that but we stood up really well and worked hard.”
Jude Bellingham speaks ...
“It’s a relief because you put so much into the game,” says the Real Madrid midfielder in an interview with TNT Sports. “I’ve played against City before when you’ve been close and you feel like you should get something out of it, then all of a sudden they snatch it away from you. You have to work really hard to beat them and I was pretty much dead on my feet at the end. To win the game is a massive reward.”
Real go through to the semi-finals
They squeak through on penalties after misses in the shoot-out from Mateo Kovacic and Bernardo Silva. Antonio Rudiger held his nerve to take the decisive spot-kick and Real Madrid’s players are celebrating wildly in front of the travelling fans. Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti share a very warm embrace but the champions are out. There’ll be no double-treble for Manchester City and Real Madrid will face Bayern Munich in the last four.
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REAL MADRID ARE THROUGH ...
Rudiger scores into the bottom corner, just out of Ederson’s reach. Manchester CIty have been knocked out of the Champions League by the team that always find a way.
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Man City score
Ederson, the goalkeeper, scores past his opposite number, rolling the ball into the corner. Over to you, Tony Rudiger …
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Real Madrid score
Nacho scores with a minimum of fuss. That’s huge! Real Madrid lead 3-2.
Man City score
Phil Foden smashes the ball past Lunin. It’s 2-2.
Real Madrid score
Lucas Vazquez pulls the ball into the bottom left-hand corner. Real Madrid lead 2-1.
Man City miss
Mateo Kovacic is denied by Lunin. It’s a poor effort down to the goalkeeper’s right. Advantage Real Madrid.
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Real Madrid score
Jude Bellingham scores emphatically. It’s 1-1.
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Manchester City miss.
Bernardo Silva has to wait for the ball to be thrown back from the crowd behind the goal. He shoots straight at Lunin, who doesn’t have to move.
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Real Madrid miss
Luca Modric has his spot-kick saved by Ederson, diving to his right.
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Man City score
Julian Alvarez fires the ball high to Lunin’s left.
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Manchester City will go first. Kyle Walker has just won his second coin-toss of the evening.
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An email: “The good thing about extra time is that it gives City fans a chance to protest the charges against their club in the 115th minute,” writes Peter Oh.
ET30+2: The game ends with a Real Madrid goal-kick. This tie will be settled by spot-kicks. Oh my.
ET30+1: Penalties loom as we go into added time in extra time. There won’t be much of it.
ET30: Alvarez shoots on the turn from a tight angle and his weak effort is easily saved by Lunin.
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ET28: Coming in from the right, Brahim Diaz tries to slide the ball towards Bellingham at the near post but Kovacic gets ahead of him to avert any danger.
ET28: Nacho skips away from Walker, canters upfield and plays the ball inside to Valverde. Modric beats Doku to a loose 50-50 ball on the right flank but his cross is uncharacteristically dreadful.
ET27: Gvardiol collides with Vazquez and the ball goes out for a Real Madrid throw-in.
ET26: A low Julian Alvarez ball into the Real penalty area is cleared. It was a poor, aimless and half-hearted looking delivery from the Argentinian.
ET24: Doku scurries through the Real Madrid penalty area but is disposssessed by Fedi Valverde, who clears the danger for the Spanish side.
ET21: The game has got very scrappy. Manchester City double-substitution: John Stones and Mateo Kovacic on for Manuel Akanji and Kevin De Bruyne. Almost immediately, Kovacic has a shot blocked by Rudiger.
ET20: Carvajal is unable to continue and is replaced by Eder Militao. He’s been out injured so long that he’s forgotten you’re not allowed to play wearing jewelry. The referee sends him back to the touchline to remove the chain he is wearing around his neck.
ET18: Dani Carvajal’s legs seize up and he goes down with cramp. A couple of his teammates, then the medics treat him and help him to his feet, but he goes straight back down again.
ET17: City are hogging the ball and Jeremy Doku wriggles up the inside left, taking it past Vazquez. The Real Madrid substitute recovers well to retrieve the ball after Dani Carvajal had slowed Doku down.
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ET16: Play resumes with Real Madrid on the ball again. They soon give it back to City, as has been their wont this evening.
It’s half-time in extra time. There are a lot of tired legs and minds out on that pitch but the turn-around is quick.
ET15+1: City make heavy weather of clearing the corner and a good chance falls at the feet of the wrong person. Antonio Rudiger pokes it wide from close range.
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ET15: Real have just won their first corner in this game and failed to muster a shot of any kind since Rodrygo scored their goal in the 12th minute. Make of that what you will.
ET12: Real substitution: Lucas Vazquez on for an exhausted Vinicius Junior, who gets a ticking-off from the ref for dawdling off the field.
ET10: Walker does well to hold off Vinicius Junior as the Real winger tried to scuttle in behind him at the byline. Ederson comes out to claim the ball.
ET9: Bernardo Silva picks out Phil Foden with a low ball drilled across the penalty area from the left. Whether it’s the bullet-like pace on the cross, a bobble or simple bad luck, Foden completely miskicks from a good position.
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ET6: I suspect if you offered him a penalty shoot-out right now, Carlo Ancelotti would snap your hand off. Pep? Not so much. City continue to dominate.
ET3: Doku repeatedly tries to pirouette past Carvajal down by the byline but the wily Real Madrid defender is having none of it and dispossesses him. It’s the football equivalent of that scene in Raiders Of The Lost Ark, where having watched a hooded enemy prancing around in front of him twirling a scimitar like a parade leader’s baton for several seconds, Indy just pulls out his revolver and shoots the bloke.
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ET2: There’s a break in play as Jude Bellingham receives treatment for an injury. He seems to have hurt his jaw in what looked an inoccuous collision with Ruben Diaz but is fit to carry on.
ET1: There’s very little dilly-dallying before play resumes but City have made a substitution. Julian Alvarez is on for Erling Haaland, who has had a very quiet night.
Man City 1-1 Real Madrid (agg: 4-4)
Full time: We’ll have another 30 minutes of football and then penalties, if required. Since Kevin De Bruyne cancelled out Rodrygo’s opener, there’s only been one likely winner of this game, with Real Madrid struggling to get out of their own half. But Real are Real are Real, so it would be extremely foolish to write them off, despite Manchester City’s almost total dominance.
90+5 min: Manchester City corner. Akanji gets a flick on De Bruyne’s inswinger and Haaland heads over from a near impossible angle at the far post. We’ll have extra time at the Etihad.
90+4 min: Ferland Mendy gets booked for a meaty challenge on Kyle Walker. I didn’t even think it was a foul but our Italian referee begs to differ.
90+2 min: Rodri runs on to a pull-back from Doku, chops inside and sends a very feeble shot goalwards. The ball slowly trundles into the waiting arms of Andriy Lunin.
90+1 min: Carvajal heads away a long diagonal from Rodri towards Doku. Moments later, the City substitute is penalised for a foul on his marker.
89 min: We’ll have four minutes of additional time, then another 30 of extra time if nobody can scare up a winner. Rodri gets booked for yanking back Brahim Diaz in a successful bid to break up a rare Real sortie into City territory.
87 min: Foden sees a speculative shot cannon off Camavinga and out for a throw-in deep in Real territory. City go on to win a corner off Dani Carvajal, who seems to have given away about a dozen so far. Nothing comes of this one either.
85 min: Diaz’s first contribution is to give the ball away and his second is to concede a free-kick with an over-zealous lunge in a bid to try to get it back. That’s probably not what Carlo Ancelotti had in mind when he sent him on.
84 min: Real Madrid substitution: Brahim Diaz on for Rodrygo.
82 min: Akanji pulls the ball back to Kevin De Bruyne and he blasts the ball high over the bar when you’d have bet the farm on him scoring from five or six yards inside the Real penalty area, in acres of space. He can’t believe he’s missed that chance and on the touchline, neither can his manager.
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80 min: Moments after Lunin gets a fingertip to a De Bruyne rasper from distance, Carlo Ancelotti lights up the sky over the Etihad with the Modric insignia. The Croatian midfielder answers the call and replaces Toni Kroos. He was orginally set to come on for Rodrygo but Ancelotti changed his mind and hooked Kroos instead.
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78 min: Having received a pass from Rodri out on the left, Doku cut inside and took on and beat Valverde. He drilled the ball into the area and with his feet in a muddle, Rudiger could only “clear” it straight into the path of De Bruyne, who made no mistake.
GOAL! Man City 1-1 Real Madrid (De Bruyne 75) (agg 4-4)
City equalise! Kevin De Bruyne capitalises on a poor Rudiger clearance from a low Doku cross to send the ball fizzing past Lunin from about five yards out.
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75 min: Doku advances inside from the left, creates an angle from which to shoot and has his effort blocked by Carvajal. Real Madrid are defending very stoutly indeed but they’re being pinned deeper and deeper inside their own half.
74 min: A wayward, overhit Phil Foden cross towards Erling Haaland finds its way to Vinicius Junior but City soon have possession back.
72 min: Valverde slips Vinicius Junior in behind down the right but his low cross towards Rodrygo is too close to Ederson, who claims the ball. Manchester City substitution: Jeremy Doku on for Jack Grealish. Good luck with that, Mr Carvajal-on-a-yellow-card.
70 min: Grealish has a low shot saved by Lunin.
69 min: De Bruyne tries to cross from the left flank but his delivery is put out for a corner by Carvajal. The Belgian’s delivery is flat and towards the near post, again. It’s put out for a goal kick.
68 min: Kevin De Bruyne curls a cross towards the far post, aiming for Grealish. The ball is headed clear by Carvajal, who is all over the City winger like a cheap suit.
66 min: Silva tries to slide a ball in behind to the byline for De Bruyne but overhits his delivery. Goal-kick for Real Madrid.
63 min: Bernardo Silva sends the ball fizzing in from the right, his low pass so hard that not even Phil Foden can control it. It’s half-cleared and appears to catch referee Daniel Orsato in his crown jewels. There’s a break in play as the referee takes a brief and very understandable time-out to compose himself. He resists the urge to bend over cradling his gentleman’s agreement, but takes a few moments to recover. Give the people what they want, referee!!!
61 min: Josko Gvardiol is booked for a poorly-timed lunge on Jude Bellingham. Free-kick for Real just inside their own half. They play the ball backwards.
61 min: Camavinga gives the ball away in a dangerous area again and it leads to Foden having a shot from distance blocked.
59 min: Carvajal pulls away from Grealish as he goes on a rampaging run into the City half. The City winger takes one for the team and fouls the Madrid No2 for the second time in a few seconds. Yellow card.
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58 min: Grealish is penalised for a nothing challenge on Carvajal and throws his hands in the air in frustration. Free-kick for Real, deep in their own half.
57 min: Kyle Walker curls a cross into the penalty area towards Haaland but Nacho clears.
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56 min: Real Madrid have not played well so far in this second half and are under serious, unrelenting pressure from their hosts.
55 min: I say nothing, but Lunin did have another flap before comfortably gathering a Phil Foden effort on the follow-up. City are putting two players on the Real goalkeeper at corners, having noticed he’s a little uncertain under high, dropping inswingers.
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52 min: Another City corner, after Nacho performs heroics to hook the ball clear to prevent an own goal that would have been credited to himself. He was chasing down a through ball from De Bruyne to Haaland and poked the ball towards his own goal. Fortunately, he was able to stretch and hook it clear before it crossed the line. Nothing comes of the corner.
50 min: Grealish receives the ball out on the left touchline again and plays the ball in behind to Bernardo Silva. He tries to pick out the lurking Haaland with a dink from the byline but Lunin catches his cross.
49 min: Real Madrid keep giving the ball away around their own box and it’s driving Carlo Ancelotti potty. Eduardo Camavinga is the latest culprit to incur the Italian’s not inconsiderable wrath.
47 min: Grealish is sent on his way down the left touchline, Carvajal tracking him, no doubt mindful of the fact he’s on a yellow card. City win a corner, which Phil Foden takes. His delivery is decent and deep; Lunin flaps the ball clear under pressure from a couple of man-markers in light blue. Grealish tests the goalkeeper again with a follow-up shot that is straight down the Ukrainian’s throat.
Second half: Man City 0-1 Real Madrid (agg 3-4)
46 min: Play resumes with Real Madrid on the ball and no changes in personnel on either side.
Jude Bellingham: I managed to go an entire half without mentioning Real Madrid’s English superstar, which seems odd and was also completely unfair. He had a lovely touch in the early build-up to Real Madrid’s goal, taking down a long ball from deep which sent – I think – Gvardiol skittering out of the equation. Bellingham subsequently slipped it wide to Valverde and it was he who played Vinicius Junior down the inside right to cross to Rodrygo.
Man City 0-1 Real Madrid (agg 3-4)
Half-time: Referee Daniel Orsato’s whistle is greeted by loud boos and it’s difficult to say why. He hasn’t done anything I can think of to upset City fans, while the players in light blue have played pretty well despite going behind to Rodrygo’s strike in the 12th minute. Real Madrid are in the ascendency but this tie is far from over.
45+1 min: Rodri is first to a long Lunin kick-off and the ball finds it’s way back to the Real goalkeeper. His next clearance is also long and this time Phil Foden is the grateful recipient.
43 min: Phil Foden tries to pick out Grealish with a cross towards the far post. Carvajal heads the ball out for a corner. Lunin sends De Bruyne’s inswinger out for another one at the other side of the pitch. Foden takes this corner and his effort, like most of De Bruyne’s before him, is also cleared at the near post.
41 min: Assorted City players swarm around Rodrygo and Kevin De Bruyne robs him of possession deep inside the Real Madrid half. The Brazilian goes down injured and there’s a break in play.
38 min: Dani Carvajal is booked for a foul on Grealish wide on the left and will serve a one-match ban should Real advance to the semi-final. It’s a free-kick for City in a good position. Kevin De Bruyne sends the ball curling towards Gvardiol but Nacho heads clear. Offside.
36 min: Jack Grealish advances down the inside left, takes a slightly heavy touch and his shot/cross is deflected into the side-netting by Rudiger. Nothing comes of the corner.
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36 min: Kevin De Bruyne is penalised for a shove in the back of Toni Kroos out by the touchline. He protests his innocence but it’s a fair cop.
34 min: City win themselves another corner. Kevin De Bruyne raises his right hand and again and sends this delivery skidding low towards the near post. It’s cleared.
32 min: Grealish advances and tries to poke the ball into the far corner but his effort goes out for a corner off Carvajal. Kevin De Bruyne raises his right arm, which is apparently the signal for Real Madrid defender Antonio Rudiger to prepare to clear at the near post with his head.
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30 min: A Valverde dink towards the far post, trying to pick out Rodrygo, is intercepted by the head of Gvardiol. Real Madrid are letting City have plenty of possession but the home side is looking vulnerable on the counter-attack.
28 min: Antonio Rudiger heads away a De Bruyne corner at the near post but Real Madrid are unable to clear convincingly. The ball is pinged towards the far post, where Erling Haaland’s downward header into the six-yard box is gathered by Lunin before anyone in a City shirt can pounce.
27 min: Lunin dives to his left to save a rasping drive from Kevin De Bruyne after City had taken a quick free-kick.
24 min: Gvardiol dives in to block a Carvajal shot after the Real right-back had the ball slipped his way by Vinicius Junior. The ball falls for Fedi Valverde, whose shot from distance is wild.
21 min: A loose pass by Josko Gvardiol coughs up possession to Real Madrid deep in their own half, giving them some temporary respite from the City onslaught that was prompted by Rodrygo’s impertinent act of scoring.
19 min: In the space of about five seconds, Kevin De Bruyne brings a smart save out of Lunin, before Erling Haaland heads the ball against the woodwork. Bernardo Silva can’t react quick enough to slot the rebound off the goal frame home from a tight angle. After a very slow start, somebody in the Manchester City dug-out appears to have flicked The Switch.
18 min: It was Kyle Walker who lost Rodrygo for the Real Madrid goal, the full-back perhaps showing signs of ring-rustiness after missing five or six games through injury.
17 min: Bernardo Silva stands the ball up for Erling Haaland, who heads over the bar under pressure from Nacho.
16 min: Manchester City win three corners in quick succession, the second of which Liunin is forced to tip over his own bar. It was an excellent delivery from Kevin De Bruyne.
14 min: That goal came out of nowhere. Vinicius Junior sent in a low cross from the right, which Rodrygo hit first time from close range. Ederson saved superbly, even if it it was pretty much straight at him, but the goalkeeper was powerless to prevent Rodrygo’s shinned follow-up from hitting the back of the net.
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GOAL! Man City 0-1 Real Madrid (Rodrygo 12) (Agg 3-4)
Real Madrid lead! Rodrygo scores at his second attempt after bringing a sensational save out of Ederson after connecting with a low Vinicius Junior cross from the right.
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11 min: Camavinga tries a shot from distance but his dipping effort is straight at Ederson, who gathers.
10 min: Ten minutes in and it’s very cagey at the Etihad. Who’ll blink first?
9 min: Kevin De Bruyne sends his first delivery of the night into the Real Madrid penalty area, but Lunin gathers comfortably.
8 min: Jack Grealish plays the ball inside to Rodri, who is disposssessed by Toni Kroos. The ball ricochets back towards Grealish, whose attempted cross is blocked by Dani Carvajal.
7 min: Except for just now, when he didn’t.
6 min: While City keep playing the ball out from the back, any time the ball finds its way back to Real Madrid’s goalkeeper Lunin, he kicks it long either off the turf or from his hands.
5 min: It’s been a very slow start, with little or nothing of note to report so far. Real are pressing City quite high but to little effect. It should go without saying that these players are all very comfortable with the ball at their feet in a tight space.
3 min: City enjoy a series of sustained possession, their defenders and goalkeeper pinging the ball around at the back as they feel out their Spanish visitors.
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2 min: Real Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin gets his first touch and gets the ball launched towards Eduardo Camavinga in the middle of the park.
Man City v Real Madrid (agg 3-3) is go ...
1 min: Kyle Walker won the toss for Manchester CIty and elected to kick-off, so the ball is booted straight from the centre-circle back to Ederson, who gets an early feel of the ball at his feet.
Not long now: The teams leave it late to emerge from the tunnel but finally make it out led by Italian referee Daniel Orsato and his team of match officials. There’s a place in the Champions League semi-finals up for grabs and kick-off is just a few pre-match formalities and a couple of minutes away.
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Ancelotti: "Football belongs to the footballers"
“Football always belongs to the footballers,” said the Real Madrid head coach yesterday. “I’ve said it many times and tomorrow it’ll be the same. I realised what happened in the first leg, it was a very entertaining game and I think the players will be, as always, the protagonists. Also, it’s a match where there’s going to be a lot of quality on the pitch.
“We don’t have to look back at the past, we have to look at tomorrow’s game and how to approach it, taking into account what happened a week ago. We have to compete, to fight and to be confident. The result is all square, there’s another 90 minutes and anything can happen. We have the confidence that we have the quality to create problems.”
Pep Guardiola: "We are going for it"
Pep Guardiola: With our people, we feel safe, we feel protected, we feel supported,” said the Manchester City manager in his pre-match press conference. “We know we can handle momentum. We are going for it. We have a gameplan we believe in, and we are going for it. If we lose, we lose. We shake hands – Real Madrid will deserve it. I want us to play and deserve to be in the semi-finals.
“You have to adjust something from Bernabeu - the result was good, but we have to perform a little better. We have the last training session, and we will talk about that and hopefully go through. We need to feel the pressure - we don’t want to lose the game. We need hunger to compete. It is true we feel more comfortable because we have won [this competition now]. Our people at home will help us a lot. You can’t for 90 minutes, all the time, be better, you have to suffer.”
Jude Bellingham: The England midfielder has said joining Real Madrid was a “no-brainer” despite interest from many other elite clubs including Manchester City. Jamie Jackson reports …
Those teams: Kyle Walker returns to the Manchester City line-up for his first appearance since pulling up with a hamstring injury during England’s friendly against Brazil three weeks ago, with John Stones starting on the bench.
Ederson keeps his place in goal after returning from injury against Luton at the weekend, while Rodri is also back in the side after being rested for that game. Kevin De Bruyne missed the first leg against Real last week but returns tonight. Mateo Kovacic makes way.
For Real Madrid, Nacho comes in for the suspended Aurelien Tchouameni. Having returned from a seious knee injury in Real’s win over Mallorca at the weekend, Eder Militao is among the substitutes.
Manchester City: “Blowing away Real Madrid in a Champions League semi-final second leg before their home crowd was the fantasy Manchester City made reality last spring,” writes Jamie Jackson. “The challenge for the holders is to knock the Madridistas out again at the Etihad Stadium, and after the scintillating performance of a year ago there is no sense of inferiority.”
Manchester City v Real Madrid line-ups
Manchester City: Ederson, Walker, Dias, Akanji, Gvardiol, Rodri, Foden, Bernardo Silva, De Bruyne, Grealish, Haaland.
Subs: Stones, Ake, Kovacic, Doku, Ortega, Alvarez, Gomez, Matheus Luiz, Carson, Bobb, Lewis.
Real Madrid: Lunin, Carvajal, Rudiger, Nacho, Mendy, Valverde, Camavinga, Kroos, Rodrygo, Bellingham, Vinicius Junior.
Subs: Eder Militao, Modric, Joselu, Lucas, Ceballos, Garcia, Diaz, Guler, Arrizabalaga, Gonzalez.
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Your City side to face Real Madrid 🩵
— Manchester City (@ManCity) April 17, 2024
XI | Ederson, Walker (C), Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol, Rodrigo, De Bruyne, Bernardo, Foden, Grealish, Haaland
SUBS | Ortega Moreno, Carson, Stones, Ake, Kovacic, Doku, Alvarez, Gomez, Nunes, Bobb, Lewis#ManCity | #UCL pic.twitter.com/2NtHEk7XTt
Tonight's match officials
Daniele Orsato leads tonight’s team of match officials and will take charge of his third match between these sides since 2020.
Referee: Daniele Orsato
Referee’s assistants: Ciro Carbone and Alessandro Giallatini
Fourth official: Maurizio Mariani
VAR: Massimiliano Irrati
Early team news
Real Madrid defensive midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni has to sit this one out through suspension after being booked last week, while centre-back David Alaba and goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois are long-term absentees.
Vinicius Junior, Eduardo Camavinga, Dani Carvajal and Eder Militao all started on the bench for their side’s win over Real Mallorca last Saturday, while Rodrygo is expected to have recovered from an unspecified knock.
Despite their hectic playing schedule, John Stones is Manchester City’s only injury concern, having missed last weekend’s game against Luton with a “niggle”. Kyle Walker has recovered from a hamstring injury, while Rodri is expected to return after being rested on Saturday.
Man City v Real Madrid (agg: 3-3)
Following last week’s thriller under the closed roof of the Bernabeu Stadium, this Champions League quarter-final second leg could not be more finely poised.
Manchester City are the hot pre-match favourites but in Real Madrid they face an extremely tenacious team famous for always finding a way …. except on occasions like last year’s semi-final against the same opposition, when they got blown away at the Etihad Stadium.
In the interests of entertainment, those without a dog in this particular fight will be hoping that City don’t have it all their own way this time around and that we’ll be treated to a wild and chaotic white-knuckle ride to match both of last night’s quarter-final second legs. Kick-off at the Etihad Stadium is at 8pm (BST) but we’ll have plenty of team news and build-up in the meantime.
