Real Madrid produced another of those European comebacks but on this occasion so, too, did Manchester City. So Madrid went and did it again, even if this time they stopped short of the full turnaround, instead leaving this quarter-final on edge. The past two European champion sides, whose meetings average 4.3 goals a game, gave us another wild night to remember.
Carlo Ancelotti had called for courage and personality and there was plenty of that, plenty of talent too. There were also six Santiago Bernabéu goals to set up a fascinating second leg at the Etihad Stadium. If it’s half as good as this 3-3 draw it will be fun.
One up after 95 seconds through Bernardo Silva, 2-1 down after a Rúben Dias own goal and Rodrygo’s deflected finish inside 114 seconds later, City came back to lead with two wonderful strikes in five second‑half minutes, Phil Foden and Josko Gvardiol leaving Pep Guardiola dancing on the touchline.
Just when it seemed a turnaround of their own was complete, however, Madrid reminded City whose place this is when Fede Valverde rounding off a noisy, tense, emotional night with a gorgeous volley. The only thing missing, given the precedents, was a late winner, some ludicrous finish, an explosion to end it.
Maybe that will happen next week. This was a game of many moments, one in which for a while, it felt as if City could kill off Madrid, then it felt as if Madrid could kill off City, and then it was City’s turn again. At the end they were both still standing, though Guardiola’s team are entitled to feel satisfied, cautiously optimistic; next week, Madrid will be without Aurélien Tchouaméni and City will have Kevin De Bruyne back, after he was forced to sit this out with sickness. They will hope Erling Haaland will be in better footballing health at home, too, where they have not lost a Champions League game since 2018.
In the final analysis, it had not ended badly but then it could not have started better, the visitors leading within two minutes. Tchouaméni took out Jack Grealish after just 38 seconds, earning a yellow card that rules him out of the second leg, and from the free‑kick Bernardo Silva scored. The position, to the left of the area 20 yards out, did not look promising but, faced by a wall made up only of Vinícius Júnior, Silva saw an opportunity, striking hard and low to the near post. Andriy Lunin got a hand to it but could not keep it out. Only 95 seconds had passed.
City were in control, or so it goes, Haaland’s shot soon blocked by a combination of Lunin’s hand and the post. Madrid were wobbling, unable to get the ball and seemingly in trouble. Except that if ever there was a team that can be turn everything on its head in a flash, a stadium that can suddenly catch fire, it is here. And almost as soon as City had led, Madrid did.
Almost as soon? Sooner. It came, as it so often does, from nowhere. And from two deflections, as if this was another act of destiny. First Eduardo Camavinga’s shot to nowhere hit Dias, changed direction and spun past Stefan Ortega and into the net. Then Vinicíus spun and released Rodrygo, who raced into the City area where his shot caught Manuel Akanji’s heel and left Ortega helplessly watching another one roll into his net: 114 seconds between the two goals were all it had taken to floor City and, at that point, they really did seem out of it, as if flawed by the inevitability.
Madrid even might have felt they could end it. Haaland had disappeared somewhere in Toni Rüdiger’s orbit and there was an imprecision to Guardiola’s team. A neat exchange between Grealish, Rodri and Foden ended with Tchouaméni blocking but otherwise there was no way through.
There were also unusually long periods without the ball at all. At the other end, by contrast, every time Madrid set off, the space seemed vast – and too often those runs began with City giving possession away, the vulnerability spotted and seized upon.
It was two robberies that led to the best opportunities, for Rodrygo and Vinícius, and two more chances followed early in the second half, Jude Bellingham pulling wide and Vinícius putting another over. This was shifting, though: Rodri headed over, Foden shot into the arms of Lunin and the Ukrainian then pushed away Silva’s effort as City took a grip. Bit by bit they turned the screw. Madrid were tiring, dropping deeper, struggling to breathe. City were City again, and in a long period of possession John Stones and Silva worked a little space for Foden, who bent a wonderful shot into the top corner. Just five minutes after that Gvardiol struck an equally impressive effort into the net.
Now it was Madrid who seemed to be on the canvas but, well, you know what comes next. On as a substitute, still not tired at 38, Luka Modric lifted them. He also found Vinícius whose neat, clipped cross was met by Valverde’s low volley, this place exploding once more. There were 10 minutes left but there were no more goals. Not this week, anyway. And so to Manchester for more.
