Manchester City have the edge, but expect Real Madrid fight back

Such nights just visit and not only take away your sleep - but cut short your lifeline as well. This season, Real Madrid seem to be on a mission to win matches by making the weather heavy and at Etihad, it was a 7-goal encounter that left everyone at the edge of their seats till the end. 

Manchester City had their say in the 2019-20 season in both the legs. In the return leg, Madrid were outclassed, and to beat this marvelous City side of Pep Guardiola, you have at your very best. 

Real Madrid threw plenty at Manchester City in Etihad. 

Every time Manchester City thought they had the game won by a handy two-goal margin, Madrid reined them in. One goal is nothing when a club has Karim Benzema as their striker. He has averaged a goal a game in 41 across this campaign. Vinicius Junior is a huge threat too.

Manchester City scored four and could do the same again in the second leg. They are that sort of side. The four could have been eight had City taken their chances. They were the better team – but couldn’t put Madrid away and there is no reason to imagine anything but the same frenzy in round two next Wednesday.

The final two goals, scored late, summed it up. City thinking they had the job done, Madrid reckoning otherwise. It was like that throughout the game. City led 2-0 which became 2-1; they led 3-1 which became 3-2; they led 4-2 which ended up 4-3. So Madrid trailed for 88 minutes and 27 seconds of this match, and yet are somehow still very much in it.

Guardiola’s fury at some of the missed chances was understandable. Particularly in the first half City had the chance to decide this tie and did not take it. If their campaign ends in disappointment those will be the moments the manager most regrets.

So this was 90 minutes of high octane, high energy and high quality – going forward, defensively not so much – but the last two goals both contained elements of good fortune. City’s goal came because Real Madrid did not play to the whistle, Madrid’s because the modern rules on handball have little truck with intention or fairness.

There were 74 minutes gone when Oleksandr Zinchenko was spectacularly upended by Dani Carvajal near the edge of the area. Even Madrid’s players acknowledged the foul and some of them stopped. 

Not all, though. So there was movement around Bernardo Silva as he took the ball into the area, there were players who realised Romanian referee Istvan Kovacs was playing advantage. Among those at rest, however, was goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois. So when Silva shot he barely moved. But Kovacs was quite adamant it was a fair goal. 

City looked to be taking a two-goal lead to the Bernabeu.

In 2016-17, City went out after conceding six goals in two games against AS Monaco in the quarterfinals. A year later, a 5-1 aggregate defeat against Liverpool ended their hopes at the same stage. The following year, it was an exit on away goals against Tottenham Hotspur after a 4-4 aggregate draw in the last eight, with Lyon winning 3-1 in the COVID-19 impacted one-legged quarterfinal in 2020.

Only last season, when City beat Paris Saint-Germain 4-1 on aggregate in the semifinals, have they bucked the trend, but 12 months on, it’s a case of ‘here we go again’ and they have ensured that a second leg which should have been a non-event is now another must-see occasion which could end up with either team progressing to the final.

City had been so dominant that they really shouldn’t have been trying to hold on for a 4-3 win in the final minutes, but they have now conceded 8 goals in three games against Liverpool (twice) and Real in recent weeks, so their frailties against the top sides will be a concern ahead of the second-leg.

Real have shown real spirit and determination at the Bernabeu in the knock-out stages, fighting back from losing positions to eliminate both PSG and Chelsea in previous rounds, so City will be entering the Lion’s Den. But their most dangerous opponent will be themselves if they fail to defend themselves properly.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

 

What a crazy night at Santiago Bernabeu!

God Dam, Real Madrid would kill all the Madridistas with such crazy nights of UEFA Champions League. Whenever the chips are down, Carlo Ancelotti raises his eyebrow and gives that look that seems bring Real Madrid back to life - our hearts come to our mouths. Pulse rate increases. Real Madrid win. But we are half-dead. 

Karim Benzema. Again. Not three this time, but one. The one that broke Chelsea’s hearts.

Chelsea lost in extra time when Benzema scored and they did not. And they lost in the first leg, by giving themselves such an obstacle to climb. Yet the rest of it was theirs. This was a great European performance, which is probably why it hurts so much to be playing no further part.

Chelsea conceded twice having raced to a 3-0 lead in 75 minutes. 

It was always going to be hard to contain them once the reality of elimination hit home - hit very hard.  

And that moment of revelation occurred when Timo Werner scored Chelsea’s third of the night. Even at 2-0 down, Madrid seemed to be sleepwalking.

Suddenly, when the aggregate score shifted to 4-3 in Chelsea’s favour, an alarm went off.  

Real Madrid started to wake up. 

The goal that sent the game to extra-time was a thing of true beauty. 

N’Golo Kante’s pass was cut out and Luka Modric played the pass of the night to Rodrygo, hit with the outside of his boot with stunning accuracy. 

The substitute met it on the volley at the far post to bring Madrid back to life. Even had away goals still counted in the UEFA competition the outcome would have been the same. 

A 3-1 win for the away team in both ties. 

he superhuman effort to score three at the Bernabeu – the first English team to do that since Manchester United in a drawn semi-final in 1968 – could not be continued for another 30 minutes. So it proved, even if the deciding goal had a degree of good fortune. It was that great double act that did it – Vinicius Junior provider, Benzema scorer – but the reason the striker had the space was that Antonio Rudiger slipped at a vital time.

It gave Benzema a free header from Vincius’ cross, and he made no mistake. Rudiger was stranded, and so was Edouard Mendy. And Benzema’s record of a goal a game in 2021-22 continues.

Madrid had the experience but this is also an aging team. Been there, seen it, done it. Maybe they thought they had this tie won in the first leg, too.

And, when hopes ended, they rose like a phoenix from the ashes - Chelsea were left stunned. 

Bernabeu was buzzing - tears of joy were shed. 

Yet another lifeline for Carlo Ancelotti's Real Madrid. 

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

  

Real Madrid conquer Stamford Bridge courtesy of Karim Benzema

It was Chelsea who beat Real Madrid last season and advanced to the final - the payback was in the minds of Real Madrid players and Carlo Ancelotti. And, ultimately, they drew first blood in the quarterfinals of the Champions League courtesy of King Karim Benzema. 

That is six goals in two Champions League games for Benzema. Three against Paris Saint-German (PSG), three more last night. 

What a player he has turned out to be. After the many claims for Gareth Bale and the emerging talent of Vinicius Junior, it is Benzema who has blossomed outside the shadow of Cristiano Ronaldo.

This was his 37th goal in 36 matches in 2021-22 and his 11th in the Champions League, a record for a French player.

Okay forget about the numbers, and this was simply a masterclass in the art of finishing and leading the line. 

Benzema choked the life out of Chelsea’s back-line.

He crept upon them like Iron Man, he vanished into thin air like Batman and reappeared like Superman when they least expected it, he made them jittery and error-prone like Spiderman. 

His two first-half headers were fabulous, powerful, and accurate in equal measure, and his third less than a minute after the second-half restart, ripped the heart out of Chelsea’s revival. 

Well, the defending champions have a mountain to climb now. 

The last time Chelsea were six in arrears at home, Ken Bates was chairman and it was a previous century. Michael Hughes scored an equalizer for Wimbledon on December 26, 1997 – and on January 4, 1998, Manchester United raced to a 5-0 lead in an FA Cup tie. A lot of water has passed under the Bridge since then, as they say.

Madrid could have been a goal up even earlier had the excellent Vinicius Junior not hit the bar after just 15 minutes. Fede Valverde, also impressive, was played in by Benzema’s lovely backheel and slipped the ball across to Vinicius, who left Mendy clutching at air, but was thwarted by the bar. And then it was Benzema’s show.

The two in three minutes knocked Chelsea through a loop but it was the third, scored so early in the second half, that reduced Tuchel’s plans to ashes. 

Chelsea had pulled one back by then, Stamford Bridge was boisterous and loud with anticipation. 

Benzema curbed that enthusiasm.

Real Madrid’s first showed what makes him such an exceptional talent. He was crucial to the build-up, playing a sweet one-two with Vinicius, before delaying his run into the box just enough to take up a position out of reach of the central defenders.

Vinicius had enough time to check Benzema’s position and cut the ball back, and the striker simply steered his header past Mendy with the power of a shot. There was so much control in the touch, such accuracy, that the goalkeeper was helpless.

Just three minutes later, same again. 

This time it was the ageless Luka Modric providing from the right side and Benzema again timing his arrival to perfection, checking and getting between Thiago Silva and Andreas Christensen to send another header, loopier this time but entirely intended, into a distant corner away from Mendy. In that instant, the tie looked done.

And it may well have been had Benzema completed his hat-trick before half-time. 

It was his only mistake, missing after Vinicius had cut another one back from the by-line. By then, Chelsea had scored, too. A deep ball from Jorginho, was met by Kai Havertz’s stooping header five minutes before half-time. A lifeline – swiftly retracted by Benzema within seconds of the half-time restart.

A long clearance upfield was harvested by Mendy 30 yards from goal but, under little pressure, he played a desperately poor pass to Antonio Rudiger. The defender was left in trouble, but compounded the error with one of his own, getting a touch but only into the path of Benzema who passed it into an empty net from distance. A dismal Madrid audition for Rudiger but a landmark for Benzema, whose 11th Champions League goal beat a European Cup record set by the French legend, Just Fontaine, for Reims in 1958-59.\

had never beaten Chelsea, in five previous meetings. That changed on Wednesday night.

More drama to come, perhaps! 

Thank You

Faisal Caesar