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Manchester City vs Real Madrid: Fiery action marks this Champions League encounter
Manchester City vs Real Madrid: The match was played at a frenetic pace, producing as many as 3 goals in just the first 15 minutes.
Manchester City vs Real Madrid: The match started at express pace, just like what the analysts had predicted and the fans were hoping for. There were goals aplenty within the first 15 minutes of the kick-off. The first goal was scored by Manchester city on 2 minutes with Real replying in kind on 12 minutes and going ahead with the second one in just 15 minutes!
The action was end to end as both teams sought to impose themselves on the other through some skillful passing and much robust play, but in the process misreading the game and leaving empty places for the opposition to take advantage of.
Read More: Real Madrid vs Man City, Arsenal vs Bayern: All you need to know about UCL ties
The first goal was scored by Silva via a free kick that saw Real make a mess of things by putting just one man in the wall, which was Vinicius Jr and he himself was not taking his duties very seriously at that moment. Silva simply drilled the ball into the corner.
However, Real attacked with purpose thereafter and almost came to scoring a goal with Valverde making a superb pass to Vinicius but it was the last moment clearance by City that prevented him from scoring.
However, the goal came within minutes of that as a deflection wrong-footed City and the ball came to rest in the net! Bad luck! The shot by Camavinga was going nowhere were it not for the deflection.
However, the sucker punch was landed within 3 minutes of that when Rodrygo ran onto a through ball that was passed to him from the Real half of the pitch. However, in this instance too, there was a deflection that took the ball into the net. 2-1 and just 15 minutes had passed!
Three players have been doing exceptionally well for Real - Vinicius Jr, Valverde and Rodrygo. However, more than anything else, it was a bit of luck that saw them ahead at that point in time.
The point being that City were dominating the match even without actially being in a awinning position, reminding many of the last weekend's encounter with Arsenal. By half-times, City had 59% possession of the ball.
The Coaches
Veteran, the 64-year-old Carlo Ancelotti made his 200th appearance as a coach in the Champions League. He also has all the bragging rights as the coach with the most titles (four).
Manchester City's Pep Guardiola has the second most Champions League victories as a manager, with 109 wins in 167 appearances.
City builds pressure and strike hard
The second-half started the way the first-half ended - with City on top. However, Real managed to break these mutiple waves of fierce attacks time and again.
The men that were making an impression were Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and to an extent Haaland. Of course, Silva was a live wire that Real were finding difficult to mark. Bellingham too was quite active, but he was letting the Real men upset him with their talk directed at him. That looks to have affected his game.
Helping City was the fact that Real had gone into their shell and on most occasions there were 11 of their men behind the ball.
The inevitable finally happened in the 66th minute. After yet another fierce attack, Foden 'found some room at the edge of the box after a sublime square pass by John Stones, to blast a shot and saw the ball scream into the top corner.
An animated Pep Guardiola immediately started issuing fresh instructions about the change of plans thereafter and even asked Kevin DeBruyne to warm up - the player had started on the bench.
And within minutes of the 2nd goal came the 3rd for Manchester City! Gvardiol did the honors on the 70th minute! It was his first goal for City! With Foden and Grealish combining, the duo managed to set Gvardiol free and he finished in a fine manner with his right foot.
Real strike back!
However, after scoring the 3rd, City started to sit back and Real made them pay dearly for it. It was Valverde, the danger man who scored in the 79th minute. It came via an innocuous-looking cross into the City box and it came straight to Valverde who hit a volley low into the net.
Guardiola was left speechless!
For Ancelotti, that was it, he promptly took Vinicius Jr off with the idea of ensuring a draw with a much tighter defense.
Well, the match ended at 3-3! It was a rivetting encounter with both teams going hammer and tongs at each other whenever they were behind.
