Lineup
Ederson started in goal for Man City. With [player 160956] and [player 911] out of the side, [player 982] and Zinchenko started at full-back. De Bruyne and Silva were on either sides of [player 186910] in a three-man midfield. Foden, Jesus and Mahrez started up front, with the Brazilian striker in great form.
As for Real Madrid, It was [player 1314] in the sticks. Alaba, who was a doubt for this game, started with [player 460160] at the heart of the Madrid defence. With [player 159700] not fit enough to start, [player 30289] started with [player 268] and [player 260862] in the midfield. In form, Benzema was the main man up top. Vinicius and Rodrygo were on the flanks.
First-Half
[team 9] made an amazing start to the game as they scored inside two minutes. [player 971] was allowed to cut in on his left as he put in a lovely cross finished brilliantly by [player 1371]. It was a slow start by Madrid, and two basic mistakes led to the goal as [player 31647] failed to mark the Belgian’s run.
Things got worse for the Spanish side as eight minutes later, City doubled their lead. It was a cross again, which was defended badly by Madrid. There were multiple basic errors and a couple of deflections, and [player 5329] finished it easily.
The away side’s first moment of the threat came in the 17th minute when Vinicius drove into the box from the left side. The Brazilian tried to curl the ball into the far post but won the corner.
Around the 25th minute, City had a big chance as Mahrez was through. However, the Algerian made a disappointing decision which made Pep fuming on the sideline. Carvajal’s defending was smart as he forced Mahrez to shoot from his weaker foot by cutting the cut back. Another superb counterattack occurred as Jesus, De Bruyne, and [player 336133] combined nicely. However, Foden’s shot went wide, and City missed another chance to extend their lead.
Another defensive error but this time by City as [player 26603] failed to cover [player 93948], whose touch was good enough to score. Just over half an hour into the first leg, [team 3468] were now just a goal behind City.
The first half ended with City leading by a goal, but they should have scored more. [coach 455361] wasn’t happy with his side’s wastefulness in the first half.
Second-Half
[coach 455800] made a change at halftime. [player 31288] was replaced with Nacho as the Austrian struggled with his recent injury issues.
Manchester City once again started the game on high intensity. They came close to scoring their third goal in the 47th minute when Mahrez hit the bar, and [player 186353] blocked the rebound.
However, the intense start by the home side continued as Madrid gave the ball away poorly. Fernandinho played a great cross in, for Foden was headed the ball in and was surprisingly unchallenged in the box. City now were in the driving position in the tie.
[player 600687], who gave the ball away for the City goal, redeemed himself by scoring Madrid’s second. He turned [player 1408] on the halfway line, ran all the way and finished it cutely against [player 159142], who did not charge out to make the angle tougher for his national teammate.
With half an hour to play, the game was finely poised on 3-2, with City still leading by a goal at the Etihad.
To add more legs and security into the midfield, Ancelotti sent [player 23688922] on the pitch in place of [player 7346228]. With City’s dominance increasing, the Italian had to change something to get his team more into the game.
City’s dominance paid off as they doubled their lead again. [player 96353] picked up the ball outside the ball, and the ref played an advantage. The Portuguese took a few touches before unleashing a strike of the highest quality. A couple of minutes later, Mahrez came close to scoring their fifth but missed the post narrowly from a tight angle.
[player 186299] was penalised for handling the ball in the box with ten minutes to go. Benzema converted the penalty excellently, and the gap was back to one goal.
The crazy football game ended with City taking a goal lead to Madrid next week.
Fixture Details: [fixture 18509782]
Author: Devashish Akolekar
