By Alex Al-Kazzaz
It's safe to say that Real Madrid vs Manchester City is the best rivalry in football right now. It seems that Manchester City and Real Madrid enjoy returning personal favors to one another regarding Champions League competition. Two years ago, Real Madrid eliminated Manchester City and went on to win the UCL. Last year, Manchester City eliminated Real Madrid and went on to win their first UCL title. And now, history is looking to repeat itself.
Real Madrid has a history of eliminating defending UCL champions, having done so five times since 1998. Interestingly enough, since 1998, each time Real Madrid would eliminate a defending champion, they'd go on to win it all. In Manchester City's case, this elimination results in the end of their quest for consecutive treble triumph. However, they're still in contention for the FA Cup and the Premier League title, both of which Manchester City have a big chance to hoist. Real Madrid looks to have the La Liga title secured, and they've already won their 13th Supercopa de España back in January. Real Madrid has a chance of achieving a treble this season.
Between Manchester City and Real Madrid, 90 minutes wasn't enough to settle it. Not even 120 minutes. A penalty shoot-out was the way to do it. But what it was that led to the penalty shoot-out is what makes this match memorable. Despite outplaying Real Madrid in almost every way, Manchester City could not make their scoring chances count.
A total of nine shots on target, and only one was converted. Although Real Madrid scored early, Manchester City kept Los Blancos in check. Still, despite taking a heavy beating from the dangerous Manchester City attack, the Real Madrid defense kept their resiliency. However, Manchester City equalized late in the game after a massive blunder by Real Madrid defender Antonio Rüdiger. This match was heavily fought.
It's debatable whether Manchester City simply underestimated Real Madrid, or if they were just very unlucky. Regardless of how the situation is regarded, the bottom line is that Manchester City didn't get the job done. On a positive note, this is a losing effort for Manchester City. While Real Madrid may be considered lucky due to Manchester City's inability to score, they deserve credit for brilliant defending as well as outlasting the team that was heavily regarded as the stronger side.
Aside from outstanding defense, Real Madrid's pace and patience played a vital role in their ability to survive Manchester City's ruthless attack. Manchester City would control the ball a majority of the time, and they would pace around the pitch, dribbling the ball, looking to find an opening through Madrid's midfield and defense, but when Real Madrid spotted an opening with a counter-attack, Madrid would gain somewhat of an advantage by catching the opposition off-guard.
While Manchester City remained desperate for a goal, Real Madrid just waited for the right moment to deny their opponent to gain a mental advantage. In other words, Manchester City would become so frustrated that their concentration might decrease, and when and if it happened, Real Madrid could take advantage. Fortunately for Manchester City, it didn't come down to that.
The way Manchester City scored late in the game is an easy way for any team to lose massive concentration. When Rüdiger failed to clear the ball out of the penalty box and instead gave it to Kevin De Bruyne, Manchester City did what they do best: take advantage of a blunder by the opposition and score a goal. Rüdiger soon had a chance to score the possible game-winner but came up short. But little did he know that his chance for redemption would soon come. Manchester City had their chance to put it away in the closing minutes of regulation and it extra time, but couldn't do it. It appeared that Real Madrid's resiliency was still alive and well.
After 120 minutes of play, the score was still 1-1 (4-4 on aggregate), and there was no winner. With a penalty shoot-out being the only option, it was interesting, considering that Erling Haaland and Vinicious Jr had both been subbed out. Regardless, both clubs had players still in the game who were capable of playing a role in a shoot-out.
Manchester City earned the right to take the first penalty, and Julian Álvarez successfully converted. When veteran midfielder Luka Modrić missed his shot, it appeared that the advantage shifted back to Manchester City, only for Bernardo Silva to miss his. Jude Bellingham would even things up, and when Mateo Kovačić missed his penalty, Real Madrid gained the advantage and didn't lose it. Lucas Vazquez made his, while Phil Foden kept Manchester City alive. Nacho Fernandez converted his while Ederson made it 3-3.
With the shoot-out score tied 3-3, with two misses already from Manchester City, the next successful conversion would be the decided, and Real Madrid had the chance to do it. And who else to take the shot than Rüdiger? This was it. Real Madrid's chance to win and advance to the UCL final four, and for Rüdiger to redeem himself from two earlier mishaps. Nobody was under more pressure than Rüdiger because had he missed, the advantage would have shifted back to Manchester City, and that probably would have been it. But Rüdiger did not miss. He converted his shot in a tremendous fashion and Real Madrid had done it.
Real Madrid is set to take on Bayern Munich in the UCL semi-finals. The history between both clubs is well-documented. The previous three times the two have met in the UCL knockout stage, Real Madrid emerged victorious each time and went on to hoist the UCL title. In 2012, Bayern Munich eliminated Real Madrid in the final four. In 2004 and 2007, Bayern Munich had also eliminated Real Madrid from the tournament.
The UCL rivalry between both clubs goes back to the 1975-76 tournament. Throughout the decades, both clubs have gone to war to prove who was better. Right now, Bayern Munich leads the series with 12 wins. If Real Madrid can win both games, Real Madrid will take the lead in all-time wins in UCL play between the two clubs.
The most important mission objective for Los Blancos is to win the Champions League for the 15th time.