Real Madrid Surges Upwards, Secures Top Semi-Final Spot With Champions League Triumph!

Real Madrid see off blunt Manchester City with sharp counter-attack to reach Champions League quarters Manchester City 1-2 Real Madrid (1-5 on aggregate) Real Madrid will face one of Bayern Munich or Atalanta in the Champions League quarter-finals, after seeing out their advantage from the first leg against Manchester City . Alvaro Arbeloa side has won his second Champions League knockout tie, and will be relatively content with his side’s showing at the Etihad. A frantic pace characterised the opening exchanges.

In the first minute, had Fede Valverde applied the level of control he did in the first leg , he could have lobbed Gianluigi Donnarumma after getting in behind. In the two minutes that followed, Rodri Hernandez and Rayan Cherki both forced saves from Thibaut Courtois, setting the tone for the match. However the game took its decisive turn in the 20th minute.

After Vinicius Junior got in behind the backline, he cut in a thumped the right post. After the ball was recycled, his effort from the right was blocked on the line by Bernardo Silva, but after a VAR review, it transpired that it was with his elbow. Sent off, Vinicius converted his second penalty of the tie, rolling it to Donnarumma’s left.

In the first minute after the restart, Erling Haaland forced a brilliant save from Courtois inside the six-yard box, before Vinicius ran clear from the resulting counter-attack. Breezing past Ruben Dias, he blazed over the bar. Some of the tension had gone out of the tie by this point though, as the home crowd came to terms with the sending off, and true belief exited the stadium.