Author – Amrit Santlani
Manchester City beat Real Madrid 5-1 on aggregate to reach the Champions League final and will face Inter Milan in the summit clash in Istanbul on June 10. Pep Guardiola’s side scored four goals against Carlo Ancelotti’s men in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final, with Bernardo Silva putting in a performance worthy of “Man of the Match”. Silva scored twice, while Éder Militão scored an own goal and Julian Alvarez added more gloss to the scoreline with a late goal to complete the demolition.
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The first leg at the Santiago Bernabéu ended 1-1, with goals from Vinicius Junior and Kevin de Bruyne, but the second leg at the Etihad on Thursday proved to be a one-sided affair.
City started the second game with high pressure, which Madrid simply couldn’t handle. It was too much intensity for Ancelotti’s men and they could have lost by two goals in the first 20 minutes, had it not been for two first-class saves from Thibaut Courtois.
Jack Grealish tormented Dani Carvajal all evening when he took a provocative throw-in from the right that Erling Haaland aimed straight at Courtois, who made a brilliant save before David Alaba cleared the danger. Minutes later, Haaland managed to head in a shot from Akanji, but the Norwegian was denied once again by a great right hand from Courtois.
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However, the Belgian would not be so lucky for a third time. De Bruyne left Bernardo Silva in front of goal, and the Portuguese striker fired in a first-time shot to open the scoring in the 23rd minute.
Just before the end of the first half, City doubled their lead when Madrid failed to clear their lines and Silva headed the ball across goal to put another nail in Real Madrid’s coffin.
Kyle Walker kept Brazilian striker Vinicius Junior at bay, while Rodrygo also proved ineffective for most of the game.
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“It’s a beautiful night for us. Beating that Madrid team 4-0 at home was wonderful. It’s a wonderful feeling to be in the final again and I hope we can try to win it this time“, said Silva after the match.
“We were very, very resilient! We were very passionate and organized at the same time” he added.
In the second half, Ancelotti’s half-time talk had an effect and Madrid upped the tempo, but were kept at bay by an impressive display from City’s defense. David Alaba tested Ederson from a free-kick, but the Brazilian goalkeeper made a sublime save. He was also on hand to deny Karim Benzema a point-blank shot at the end of the game, before an own goal from Militão brought Madrid down.
The Brazilian defender only managed to deflect a shot from De Bruyne past an unfortunate Courtois. The La Liga giants certainly did their homework by keeping Erling Haaland at bay, but they had no answer to the goals from Silva and Grealish.
Alvarez came on at the end of the game to replace Haaland, and an admirable pass from fellow substitute Phil Foden allowed the Argentinian to score and complete the emphatic result.
“The opponent was better from start to finish. They dominated us and you could see that in the result“, said Carvajal after the 4-0 win.
“We can acknowledge that City were better, but we lacked something. It wasn’t a lack of attitude, but we let ourselves be put under too much pressure. We are Madrid. We’ll come back stronger” he added.