Carlo Ancelotti has done it again. He has led Real Madrid to a third consecutive Champions League semi-final.
For those of us who watched, yes Manchester City played a “dominant” game of football but my takeaway from this match was how Ancelotti set-up his team, trained his team, and how disciplined and determined his players were in defending against the type of dominating football that City manager Pep Guardiola can orchestrate.
And while City controlled much of this match, they however did not score first. It was Madrid who got on the scoresheet in the 12th-minute through Rodrygo.
From then on it was all City but for a few dangerous counter-attacking moments for which Real are well-known.
Altogether City had 64% possession, managed 10 shots on goal, and produced 18 corner kicks to Real’s solitary corner.
Though if you watched the entire game closely you could wonder how actually dominant City were.
The more obvious takeaway for me was how effective Real were in their defending. They were so tight and organized and actually blocked 12 of City’s shots.
Guardiola spoke to this:
“Congratulations to Real Madrid – they defended so deep with incredible solidarity.” (mancity.com)
Solidarity indeed. It was quite a performance.
You have to give Pep credit for bringing in Doku for Grealish. Doku changed the game and it was his work on the left-side that produced the ball in the box that De Bruyne slotted into the top of the net in the 76th-minute to make it 1-1 and send the game into extra-time.
It was within those 30 minutes of extra-time that City looked most likely to score as Madrid’s players showed their fatigue but they could not find that one goal that would have avoided the penalty shoot-out which sent them packing.
Ancelotti’s team will face Bayern Munich in the semi-final round.