Guardiola’s Manchester City leave the Santiago Bernabéu alive (1-1)

BarcelonaA small step forward towards the final. On the same stage where they broke their hearts a year ago, Guardiola’s Manchester City drew in a game in which the English team had to suffer (1-1). Both teams knew how to score when the rival seemed to be playing better, in a duel in which Ancelotti’s men remembered that they have a sixth sense that allows them to compete whenever the Champions League arrives. City, with Haaland well defended by the White defenders, failed to transform the dominance of the game into more goals and took a dangerous draw, although the return home places them as favourites. By little, but favorites.

Real Madrid plays the Champions League qualifiers with the same calmness with which many people walk around their house in slippers and a bathrobe. They don’t seem nervous about it. For Manchester City, on the other hand, it was not a match like the others. It wasn’t just about being able to continue chasing the Holy Grail, the cup they’ve been chasing for so long. It was about leaving the stadium with our heads held high, where a year ago they lived a night to forget, a real nightmare, when Madrid eliminated them at the moment when the tie already seemed to be in the hands of Guardiola’s disciples .

The Belgians, protagonists

And the first goal, City achieved it. Now, it was their turn to sweat a little, especially in the last few minutes. You don’t knock Madrid out without pulling your hair, and despite a good start from the English side, it was Ancelotti’s side in front at the break thanks to a good move on the counter in which Vinícius showed why he is a player of extremes: when he loses control, he is a demon. When he plays football, he is an angel dressed in white. In Europe in fact, Vinícius seems to behave better than in the league. He doesn’t protest so much, as if he understood that referees act differently.

Ancelotti had ordered his men to defend closed in defense, to leave few spaces for a City that could neither create in the center, nor connect with Haaland. So much to talk about the Scandinavian striker, but in the end the match was decided by others, as Madrid knew how to defend him by putting pressure on whoever could get the ball to him. And when he touched it, Rüdiger and Alaba won the duel. Camavinga and Kroos, first at full-back, also helped stop City’s play.

With Gundogan a bit thick, City got nervous to see how Courtois stopped all the chances and how in one of the first counters, Madrid did them with Vinícius’ shot. In fact, in the second half Guardiola was getting nervous as he saw how the white team, getting stronger, was encouraged to touch the ball to try to make the second. He wouldn’t get it, quite the opposite, as Rodri played a ball in the middle of the field in a move that allowed De Bruyne, after two touches from Grealish, to tie the tie with a whip from the front . The Belgian managed to beat his teammate, Courtois, who shortly before had invented a prodigious hand. Without Courtois, this Madrid would have fewer Champions League titles.

The tie hurt a Madrid that was scared imagining losing the game. As if validating the tie, he once again ceded all the initiative to a City that didn’t dare to take a step forward either, having experienced so many blows that Madrid has broken his heart in the past. And neither technician was encouraged to make changes while they studied each other. Guardiola in fact, as he did in Leipzig, did not make a single change. But with five minutes to go, Madrid, as they usually do, plugged away. How the Madrid fans like this epic scene. Benzema and Tchouaméni could have blown the Bernabéu apart with the second goal but, unlike a year ago, City kept their cool and earned a fine draw. The second leg will be used to decide the finalist.