Manchester City after beating Real Madrid 4-0 in the Champions League final

The “Citizens” won the semi-final second leg against Real Madrid on Wednesday in front of their home crowd after a brilliant performance in the first half of the game 4-0 (2-0). After the 1-1 draw in Madrid, Bernardo Silva shot Pep Guardiola’s team on a promotion course in the 23rd and 37th minutes. An own goal by Eder Militao (76th) meant the decision, Julian Alvarez (91st) put the end.

David Alaba missed the title defense with Real. For ManCity, however, the final on June 10th in Istanbul will be the second in the “premier class” in the club’s history. The sky blues were only in the final in 2021, but lost to Chelsea there. In any case, Erling Haaland and Co. continued their run, which could still end in a triple season. The Guardiola team has not lost 23 competitive games and has celebrated 19 victories.

After the performance-related draw in the first leg, Carlo Ancelotti and Guardiola relied on the tried and tested. At Real, Eder Militao was back as Alaba’s sidekick, Antonio Rüdiger had to go to the bench. The other ten players from the Madrilenians were there from the start in the first leg. At City, the same starting eleven was in place. On the part of the coaches, Ancelotti wrote a record. The 63-year-old Italian coached his 191st match in the premier class. He overtook Manchester United’s legendary coach Sir Alex Ferguson, who played 190 games. Arsène Wenger follows in third place with 178 games.

From the touchline, Ancelotti saw the hosts’ overwhelming superiority. City set the pace from the start, Real was only concerned with intercepting the opponent’s initial enthusiasm. That was only partially successful. Haaland quickly indicated his initial strength and found the top chance of an early 1-0 in the 13th minute. A Grealish cross sailed over Alaba to the Norwegian’s head, who shot directly to Thibaut Courtois from a few meters. Alaba hit the rebound out of the danger zone.

Eight minutes later, the duel was again Haaland against Courtois, again the Belgian won with a brilliant save after a header from the goalscorer. Again just two minutes later, Courtois had no chance. Kevin de Bruyne found Silva with a hole pass, who had time and space in the penalty area and chased the ball into the net. Until then, Real could not launch a single attack towards the city goal, Karim Benzema and Vinicius Junior were completely up in the air. According to the statistics, after half an hour only 45 passes had arrived for the guests. There were around 200 more at City.

The Spaniards remembered last year. After a 4-3 win in the first leg in Madrid, Guardiola’s team was 1-0 up to the 90th minute before Real managed to turn the tide and climb. Toni Kroos came close to an answer, the German’s long-range shot out of nowhere hit the crossbar (35′). When Real seemed to have arrived in the game, City struck again. Ilkay Gündogan had space again, his blocked shot was prey to Silva, Alaba tried in vain to save the Portuguese’s header. Silva almost made a hat trick just before the break.

Real had to react. Alaba tried to get out of a stationary ball, and City goalkeeper Ederson maneuvered his free kick, which was a bit too central, over the bar (51st). The Viennese moved to the left after an hour and had to deal with Silva after Rüdiger came on instead of Luka Modric. Haaland, on the other hand, had the preliminary decision on his foot. After Gündogan’s Fersler, he reappeared in front of Courtois, but the Real keeper saved again with a leg defense (73′).

An own goal by Eder Militao at the beginning of the final quarter of an hour ended Madrilenian hopes. The defender steered the ball into the wrong net after a De Bruyne free-kick. Both teams then changed properly. The decision had been made. Alvarez scored a resounding victory shortly after his substitution.