Man City vs Real Madrid Head To Head, Real Madrid beat Man City and advance to the Champions League round of 16
Man City vs Real Madrid Head To Head, Real Madrid proved once again they are the Kings of Europe by defeating Man City 3-1 in the 2nd leg at the Bernabéu.
Mbappé was signed for nights like this. The Frenchman has just earned his first ever performance at the Bernabéu with his hat-trick against Manchester City (3-1), who say goodbye to the Champions League 2025 early. Real Madrid have set course for the last 16, as well as clearing up any doubts at a key moment of the season with their best performance to date.
Guardiola’s starting XI, without Haaland, was already reducing the chances of the Citizens , who were left without their best player due to the knock he suffered in their last Premier League match against New Castle. Before the match, the Spanish coach was questioned about his words after losing the first leg in which he said that they “only had a 1% chance” of going through, something he retracted in the press conference prior to the tragic night he experienced at the Bernabéu.
These words were like a premonition. Manchester City have not had any chance of turning the tie around since the referee blew the whistle to start the match. Despite trying to emulate the start of a week ago, when they took possession of the ball in the first moments, they were unable to do so.
Neither through intensity, nor through creation, nor through possession, City has not been able to take a step forward against a Madrid that has brought out its best version of the year to win by knockout, with Mbappé and Ceballos as the main protagonists of the night.
The former PSG player took just four minutes to find the back of the net in Ederson’s goal. The move showed the lack of ability that the sky blues have at the back, who saw their central pairing collapse when Asencio passed 40 metres to the run of Mbappé, who slipped between Gvardiol and Stones, and beat the Brazilian goalkeeper with a beautiful chip.
The goal meant that Manchester had to take a step forward, but that step never came. As if it were impossible, City wandered around the rest of the match chasing a ball that they could never possess. As if that were not enough, before the 10th minute, Guardiola saw how Stones had to leave the field of play injured, as happened to Akanji in the first leg.
A recital led by Mbappé In Man City vs Real Madrid Head To Head
Real Madrid’s recital was from start to finish and in the 33rd minute they had already sealed the match. Once again, who else, Mbappé was up to his tricks to get the second goal on the scoreboard. This time, he left Gvardiol unstable inside the area to finish off a choral play that makes fans, in a display of sheer quality.
Guardiola was sighing on the bench, not knowing what to do to put an end to the bleeding of play and scorelines. The worst news for Madrid came just before half-time, when Bellingham was deservedly shown a yellow card for an absurd challenge on Foden in the center of the pitch. An action for which he will miss the first leg of the round of 16 due to being cautioned.
During the 15-minute break, some kind of reaction was expected from the Spanish coach, but he did nothing, the same ‘eleven’ that went to the locker room returned in the second half. Madrid also made no changes, but they did not need to and took another step forward to finish the job.
The Whites’ attack and demolition was overwhelming, with Mbappé everywhere and Ceballos controlling the tempo like the best orchestra conductor. The third goal from the French striker came at the exact hour of play, with another work of art on his best night as a Real Madrid player.
This time he received the ball on the right, went inside, changed the ball with his legs and from outside the area found Ederson’s long post to seal, if it hadn’t already, the passage to the next round of the Champions League. It was his third goal of the night, with which he finished winning over the Real Madrid fans.
Madrid had many more chances to have returned the 4-0 from two years ago to City , but it was the English team who managed to reduce the gap in stoppage time, after a masterful free kick by Marmoush, their star winter signing, crashed against the crossbar. A rebound that Nico González, another of their winter signings, took advantage of to do the honor and make up for a night to forget.
Real Madrid are now in the Champions League round of 16 and have left behind their great rivals of the last five years in Europe. It is worth noting that this duel has produced the champions of the competition in the three previous seasons, but first they have to draw the next phase, where they will face Atlético de Madrid or Bayer Leverkusen .
Summary | Real Madrid 3-1 Manchester City | Champions
