BarcelonaLogic does not always find place in a football stadium. If it were for statistics and common sense, Manchester City would be on their way to the Wembley final. But Real Madrid always find a way to break hearts, to surprise, to rise from the bottom of the grave when the coffin seemed well closed, with four blows of the hammer. In an illogical night, Ancelotti’s team endured a storm, defending for 120 minutes the attacks of Guardiola’s City, until qualifying for the semi-finals on penalty kicks.
Lunin’s saves, the lack of effectiveness of the locals and Madrid’s capacity for suffering have taken a beautiful tie to penalties in which the locals have put the football. City-Madrid have already become a modern classic of the Champions League. Each time they are found, outstanding invoices are charged. If City smiled last year, this year it was Madrid’s turn to knock the English off their pedestal. Madrid’s opponent in the semi-finals will be Bayern, Arsenal’s executioner (1-0).
Manchester City knows how to play football. Madrid knows how to compete. City knows how to make football an art, a spectacle that enters your eyes, a choral ballet in which the ball never stands still. Madridistas know how to go against logic, cling to the game like a castaway to a piece of wood so as not to sink. A duel of styles was expected in Manchester, and so it was. A team with light and one that seeks to eclipse. One who is always building and one who enjoys knocking down the buildings that rivals put up with a lot of work. What a game of chess, this. Some excellent defenders, some attacking like angels.
The return of these quarter-finals with the flavor of the final has started with a good Madrid for 20 minutes. It doesn’t take much to bite Ancelotti’s team. In an isolated action, Bellingham carefully brought a ball down from the sky, got it to Vinicius and Rodrygo took advantage of City’s defensive permissiveness to make it 0-1. White’s offensive bet is over here. They already had a goal and they dug in around Lunin, aware that they had hurt the champion and it was their turn to weather a storm. That’s how it was. The game was played as if there was only one goal, with City hitting the opposition goal after another. But neither De Bruyne’s magic, nor Rodri’s leadership nor Grealish’s waist punches achieved their goal. Haaland? A bit overshadowed, surrounded by many opposing defenders. In fact, Guardiola sent him to the bench at the end of the regular 90 minutes.
In the second half, Madrid continued to take water out of their boat, without getting nervous. It is not easy not to break into a thousand pieces, when he attacks Guardiola’s team, hitting one time and another. The Whites provided excitement in the tie by clearing balls from the area, blocking shots and conceding corners, but with 15 minutes to go, De Bruyne finally did justice with the goal that forced extra time. The young Belgian Doku, very mischievous with the ball, has been punishing Carvajal while Madrid was limited to trying to reach penalties. That’s how it was. Reaching the penalty shootout was already a success for Ancelotti’s team, which has been more successful, writing another page of its surprising love affair with the Champions League, the tournament in which it wins qualifiers which, analyzed coldly, should lose
2024-04-17 21:48:17
#defensive #Real #Madrid #breaks #Citys #heart #penalty #kicks
