By Samuel A. April 10,2024
From banger goals and clever finishes to thrilling action and moments of sheer quality, Tuesday’s Champions League quarterfinal between Real Madrid and Manchester City simply had it all. After about 97 minutes of breathless action (plus added time from both halves), the first leg ended in a three all draw in Madrid’s Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, perfectly setting up the return leg on April 17.
While the spoils were shared on the night, those watching the encounter were treated to a vast array of action packed scenes which started almost from the first second.
It all started less than two minutes into the game when City took the lead through a brilliant free kick from Bernardo Silva. As the midfielder stood over the set piece, literally everyone in the stadium was expecting a cross into the box. Silva, however, had other ideas and went for goal instead, catching Los Blancos step up goalkeeper in Courtois’ absence, Andriy Lunin off guard. The Ukrainian tried to get back across to stop the effort and perhaps should have done better.
The early goal set the tone for the game and it wasn’t long before the host leveled the game from Eduardo Camavinga’s effort which deflected off Rúben Dias just after the 10 minute mark. The Madrid faithful erupted in celebration and barely had time to sit down before their side took the lead just two minutes later as in-form Rodrygo Goes raced onto a wonderful through ball from Vinícius Junior and kept his composure to nudge another deflected effort past Stefan Ortega into the City net.
After a crazy start to the game, the action began to simmer down before half time as both sides looked to take control. However, the action resumed about 15 minutes after the restart. In the 66th minute, City superstar Phil Foden produced one of the all time great Champions League goals as he hit a clean shot into the top bins to level the game.
It was an unstoppable shot which spoke volumes about how wonderful and essential Foden has been for City this season. “I just felt the sweet connection and it’s something I always practice in training where you receive it on the edge of the box”, the superstar said after the match. “Sometimes, they don’t go in, but I’m just thankful today to see it go in the top corner.”
Perhaps influenced by Foden’s beauty goal, defender Joško Gvardiol then gave City the lead just five minutes later with another long range effort, as the Croatian cut in from the left and produced a stunning strike which hit the far corner of the net.
But the game wasn’t finished and the 14 time champions started pushing for an equalizer. They eventually found it through Federico Valverde, who struck a superb volley into the corner of the net in the 79th minute and end the game in thrilling fashion.
“It was an incredible game. There was so much quality on display, two extraordinary teams,” Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti said after the match.
“We’re happy with how we played and we hope for a repeat performance on their patch. We could have won it at 2-1, and lost it at 2-3. It was a fair result given what the two teams showed in the game.”
After such a feast of action, all eyes will now switch to the return leg next Wednesday at Etihad with a place in the Champions League semifinals at stake, and if the first leg was anything to go by, the deciding fixture will be simply unmissable.
