Phil Foden regrets the missed Manchester City chances that mean they failed to kill off Real Madrid at the first time of asking. The Blueswill go to the Bernabeu next week defending a 4-3 lead after missing a host of golden opportunities — with Foden and Riyad Mahrez the main culprits.
Foden dragged a shot wide when sent clean through by Kevin de Bruyne in the first half and then hit a shot straight at Dani Carvajal on the line when Mahrez's shot cannoned off a post straight to him. With the Algerian also provoking the fury of manager Pep Guardiola when he smashed another chance into the side netting, City could already have the semi-final wrapped up.
And Foden admits there is some disappointment at the failure to finish the Spanish side when they were on their knees. He said: “Obviously we are really impressed with the result and it was important that we got the win. But on the other hand, we are a bit disappointed that we didn’t kill the game in the first half.
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“We had some great chances. It is something to work on. I think we did [deserve more]. We deserved to win by a bigger scoreline, but we know we are playing a great team and they can hurt you at any time. That’s just how it is in football.”
Three times City opened up a two-goal advantage only for Karim Benzema (two) and Vinicius Junior to peg it back to one on each occasion, leaving the semi-final on a knife-edge for the second leg next Wednesday. That ability to stay in the tie even when they look second best has already seen Real beat Paris St Germain and Chelsea in previous rounds, and now City must resist going the same way.
Foden is only too aware of their propensity for winning games in which they are outplayed. He said: “They always find a way and that is why they have won the Champions League so many times.
“They are always in the game. We have to stay focused for the full 90 minutes and that is all we can do. We can take a lot of confidence [into the second leg].
“We hurt them when we were attacking and scored more goals so all we can do is be proud of ourselves. It was very entertaining to play in and hopefully the second leg is like that as well.
“Atletico played their own way [in the last round] and Real Madrid are a lot more attacking and a fluid team. It is going to be an interesting second leg and we are going to have to control it more because we know that they can hurt us at any time with great players like Benzema who can score a goal out of nothing.
“The manager touched on it before the game that Real Madrid have won the Champions League so many times and they never seem to be out of the game, no matter what the score is. They always find a way to make chances.”
City looked like building up a huge first leg lead after scoring twice in the opening 11 minutes, but Real repeatedly fought their way back into contention whenever City looked like easing away again. Foden believes City were “perfect” in that opening spell. He said: “It felt like the perfect start really.
“I thought we did everything right in the first 20 minutes. We pressed them, won the ball back and it seemed like the perfect start. I am not sure what happened but obviously they have great quality players and they can hurt you at any time.”
Now Foden believes that City’s defence — set to be bolstered by the return of the suspended Joao Cancelo and possibly Kyle Walker as well — can show its mettle. He added: “We have showed many times how great our defence is this year.
“It is going to be a great game and we will just have to put our bodies on the line at times. We know they are going to create chances as a team. It is only one goal, so we are just going to have to play the game, think that it is 0-0 and just try to play our football as we always play to win.”
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