High Octane Drama As Real Madrid Dump Manchester City Out of the Champions League

High Octane Drama As Real Madrid Dump Manchester City Out of the Champions League

Martin Moses
updated at April 12, 2023 at 8:01 PM
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Karim Benzema logo
K.Benzema
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R. Mahrez
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UEFA UCL
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  • Rodrygo Goes bags a quickfire brace as Real Madrid knock out Manchester City in a highly entertaining game at the Santiago Bernabeu
  • City were in the driving seat and on course for back to back finals after Riyard mahrez had given them a 2-0 advantage
  • Madrid fought back with Rodrygo capitalizing on some moments of confusion from the City defense to set up a final date with Liverpool

Real Madrid put in a performance of a lifetime in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League semifinal to knock out Manchester City.

Manchester City were carrying a slender 4-3 advantage coming into this tie. The English champions were the better of the two sides but collapsed defensively from the 90th minute. Riyad Mahrez put City ahead in the 73rd minute with a ferocious shot after some brilliant piece of play from Ilkay Gundogan.

Federico Valverde, Eduardo Camavinga, Nacho Fernandez, Santiago Bernabeu.
Federico Valverde, Nacho Fernandez and Eduardo Camavinga celebrate during the UEFA Champions League semi-final match between Real Madrid and Manchester City. Photo by Alex Caparros
Source: Getty Images

The goal meant that City led the tie 5-3 on aggregate and Real Madrid would require at least two goals to force extra time. Jack Grealish came on and missed a couple of chances that Manchester City came to regret.

Second-half substitute Rodrygo Goes scored twice in quick succession as Guardiola and his technical bench were left bewildered.

Rodrygo latched to a Karim Benzema cross to score his first in the 90th minute. A minute later, the Brazilian rose highest to turn in a Dani Carvajal cross to level the tie and send Santiago Bernabeu into an absolute frenzy.

The first half of the extra time began with City still on the back foot. Ruben Dias challenged Benzema inside the penalty area and center referee Daniel Orsato pointed to the spot. The decision stood after the Video Assistant Referee agreed with Orsato.

Having scored a beautiful panenka in the first leg, Benzema changed tactics this time round, slotting in the ball slowly in Ederson's right corner. The goal took Real Madrid ahead for the very first time in this encounter with a score of 6-5.

Benzema was later on withdrawn and Dani Ceballos took his place. Guardiola threw on Raheem Sterling but Thibaut Courtois stood firm in the Los Blancos goal.

Carlo Ancelotti has now made history as the first manager to qualify for five Champions League finals. He will be hoping to add another title to his resume when he faces Liverpool in the final on May 28th.

Authors
Martin Moses photo
Martin Moses
Martin Moses is a sports journalist with over five years of experience in media. He graduated from Multimedia University of Kenya (Bachelor of Journalism, 2017-2021)
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Carlo AncelottiPep Guardiola