Manchester City were at their very best and very worst as they twice took the lead but ultimately fell to a 3-2 defeat against Real Madrid to leave their Champions League hopes hanging by a thread. It was all going so well when Erling Haaland dispatched a penalty in the 80th minute to restore City’s advantage after a flukey Kylian Mbappe strike had cancelled out the Norwegian’s opener.
But just when it looked as though Pep Guardiola’s side were heading to the Spanish capital with the ideal advantage, they were haunted by a familiar inability to see out a game and conceded twice in the final five minutes. Former City academy graduate Brahim Diaz levelled after sloppy goalkeeping from Ederson before Jude Bellingham took advantage of a huge lapse of concentration in the City defence to snatch a stoppage-time winner.
Before kick-off, City fans mocked Vinicius Jr for losing out to Rodri in the race for the 2024 Ballon d’Or and throwing his toys out of the pram. The Brazilian looked fired up and provoked a foul from Ederson which would have resulted in a penalty had he not been offside, while he then had a shot deflected off the bar in a rampant start from the visitors.
But it was City who took the lead after a tremendous move which saw Josko Gvardiol play a long floor pass to Haaland, who expertly held the ball up and found Jack Grealish. Gvardiol then appeared in the box to chest Grealish’s chipped cross towards Haaland, and the Norwegian fired past Thibaut Courtois. The goal survived an interminable VAR check for offside, and City then came close to doubling their lead when Manuel Akanji sent a glancing header off the bar.
At the other end, Mbappe wasted a golden opportunity to equalise when he spooned over the bar, but the Frenchman did eventually equalise in the most bizarre circumstances, taking a wild swing at a Dani Ceballos pass and striking the ball with his shin, completely flummoxing Ederson and everyone else in the ground.
City got their noses back in front when Haaland buried a penalty after Ceballos tripped Phil Foden, but just when it looked as though they were heading to the Spanish capital with the lead, they were haunted by a familiar inability to see out a game.
GOAL rates Man City’s players from the Etihad Stadium…