Real Madrid 1 Manchester City 2: match reportCity hold on for big win at the Bernabeu as O’Reilly and Haaland goals prove to be enough
Manchester City defeated Real Madrid 2-1 at the Bernabeu to move up to 4th in the Champions League table and put themselves on course to qualify for the round of 16 automatically. They lost their previous fixture 2-0 at home to Leverkusen. Donnarumma started in goal, O’Reilly, Dias, Gvardiol and Nunes were in defence. Gonzalez, Foden, and Bernardo were in midfield with Doku, Cherki and Haaland in attack.
Real Madrid started the match more positively and the Blues were on the back foot struggling to cope with the pace of the home side’s attack. Real thought they had a penalty in just the 2nd minute after Nunes fouled Vinicius Jr, but the foul was later ruled outside the box and a free kick was given. City defended the resulting chance.
Despite the early scare, City still struggled for possession and this eventually led to them trailing. Rodrygo, notorious for scoring against City, ended his 30+ game goal drought, receiving a pass on the wing and running past O’Reilly to place into the bottom left corner past Donnarumma to make it 1-0 to the home side. City were behind and needed to show much more spirit in the second half to get back in front.
Fortunately, the Blues recovered quickly and found more rhythm in attack. In the 33rd minute, City had a corner. Cherki swung one in and found Gvardiol whose header was saved by Courtois, but the ball rebounded straight back out to O’Reilly who knocked it in to level the scores for City.
City continued to attack and searched for a goal to get them in front. In the 42nd minute, O’Reilly crossed the ball in attempting to find Haaland who was brought down by Rudiger in the box. This was initially waived by the referee but moments later was called on by the VAR to have a look. After reviewing the challenge, City were given a penalty. Haaland cooly sent Courtois the wrong way to give the Blues the lead at half-time.
City showed much more spirit in the second half than the first, but were unable to find a goal to consolidate their lead. Real Madrid had a score of chances to equalise but couldn’t find the net with many going wide. The closest they got to scoring in the second half was substitute Endrick’s chance which hit the bar. City held out and won 2-1
City are now 4th in the Champions League table, with two remaining fixtures, Bodo/Glimt away and Galatasaray at home. With the worst of their league stage fixtures out the way, the Blues will be confident of finishing in the top 8 and thus, securing automatic qualification to the round of 16. Next up for City is a tough test at Selhurst Park against Crystal Palace in the league.
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