With 72 minutes on the clock, an increasingly fervent Manchester City support announced who they were and promised to fight until the end. Their team was trailing to Rodrygo’s early goal and it was a time for them to show their champion courage, for a hero to emerge; for them to go all the way to the very last.
All of the above did happen. On a night of the finest margins and the highest tension, Kevin De Bruyne popped up with the equaliser in the 76th minute. The City playmaker always seems to score against Real Madrid and his goal here following a surge and cross from the substitute, Jérémy Doku, and a fluffed clearance by Antonio Rüdiger.
De Bruyne lashed high into the net and, at that point, with City pushing and Madrid defending desperately, the home crowd waited for what they felt was the inevitable.
It did not happen and, when penalties were required to decide the identity of the team to face Bayern Munich in the semi-finals of this gripping edition of the Champions League, it was City that cracked.
The holders had held the advantage when the Madrid substitute, Luka Modric, shot too close to Ederson. But after Bernardo Silva had chipped straight down the middle at Andriy Lunin and another substitute, Mateo Kovacic, had also been denied by the Madrid goalkeeper, the scene was set for Rüdiger to win it. His kick was true, his celebrations wild and City knew only heartbreak – the dream of the outlandish double-treble over.
The history was a part of it, taking in City’s last-16 victory over Real in 2020 but majoring, really, on the semi-finals of the previous two seasons – Real’s stoppage-time voodoo of 2022 en route to their extra-time victory; City’s thumping revenge last time out. Make no mistake, the 4-0 humbling was in the back of Madrid minds.
Guardiola had recalled Kyle Walker to the starting XI after injury and his other headline team news item was the naming of John Stones as a substitute. It was Manuel Akanji alongside Rúben Dias in central defence at the outset and it was not long before City were breached.
Madrid had begun with a strut, a few tweaks on the tactical front from Carlo Ancelotti, too, his formation more 4-2-3-1 than the expected 4-3-1-2; Valverde and Rodrygo starting as conventional wingers.
Jude Bellingham still had the No 10 role, with all license to roam he wanted and it was him that fired the move for the breakthrough. Dani Carvajal had punted a high ball forward but how Bellingham, breaking from inside his own half, brought it down to get Madrid moving.
Bellingham found Carvajal and he slid the killer pass up the inside right channel for Vinícius Júnior, who had timed his run in behind the City defence. Vinícius’s low cross was on the money, just out of the reach of the stretching Walker, and Rodrygo had to score. The only surprise was that he needed two attempts to do, having mishit the first one slightly, allowing Ederson to save. He made no mistake on the rebound.
City had the chances to equalise before the end of the first 45 minutes, although Real oozed menace on the counter, the sense that they had their opponents where they wanted them. Guardiola counted on Ajanki’s pace, especially against Vinícius, but Madrid looked as though they could play into the spaces behind City’s high last line. There were three occasions in the first half when they did so, Josko Gvardiol needing to produce a big block to deny Carvajal after the cleanest incision. It was impossible to ignore the presence of Bellingham, the threat of Vinícius.
City could see that Lunin had an aversion to catching the ball. They tried to put him under pressure on set pieces and, of course, to test him in open play, although the goalkeeper had to make only one real save before the interval, a push away from a low De Bruyne shot.
Erling Haaland headed one chance high and looped another one against the crossbar on the second phase of a move. Silva could not react in time to finish the rebound. Then there was a lovely Haaland pass that got Jack Grealish away up the inside left. Rüdiger got his distances right on the cover, moving in to divert the shot into the side netting.
A few more words on Bellingham because it was not just the way that he dovetailed with Vinícius. His athleticism was extraordinary, especially when he stretched into tackles and almost turned them into passes. He seemed to have an extra touch in so many situations.
City could feel that everything was on the line at the beginning of the second half. They stepped higher, pressed harder on to the front foot. The home crowd responded as they saw Real sink further back, also as Lunin continued to push at the ball rather than collect. It is simply his style.
Grealish warmed Lunin’s palms with a sweetly struck volley in the 47th minute, setting the tone for City, and Haaland almost pressured Nacho into a disastrous error. The centre-half decided to go back to Lunin at the last second but the goalkeeper was not there and the ball trickled towards the line. Nacho raced back to clear.
Phil Foden shot at Lunin after the goalkeeper had flapped at a corner and, as the second-half minutes ticked down, it felt as though Madrid had reached a simple conclusion. They did not need another goal; they just needed to keep their shape and keep City out.
The pattern had been fixed from the start of the second half of normal time and it was certainly unusual to see Madrid play the role of low block spoilers. And yet after Foden had miskicked when well-placed following a Silva cross, the visitors almost landed the sucker punch at the end of the first period of extra time.
The one-time City winger, Brahim Díaz – who had come on as a substitute – sent over the cross and it was Rüdiger that tiptoed into space. The angle was tight, to the left of goal, but it was still a huge chance. Rüdiger sliced the shot.
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