Real Madrid and Manchester City finished in a 3:3 draw in the first meeting of their Champions League quarter-finals clash on Tuesday. The game in the Spanish capital began with Aurelian Tchouameni’s yellow card for a blatant foul on Jack Grealish just 40 seconds into the match, ruling the French player out of the return leg due to suspension. Bernardo Silva executed a perfect strike, fooling Andriy Lunin that he was going to cross, only to send the ball directly into the back of Real Madrid’s net.
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Real Madrid 0-1 Man City ⏱️ (2')
Real Madrid 1-1 Man City ⏱️ (12')
Real Madrid 2-1 Man City ⏱️ (14')
Real Madrid 2-2 Man City ⏱️ (66')
Real Madrid 2-3 Man City ⏱️ (71')
Real Madrid 3-3 Man City ⏱️ (79')#UCL pic.twitter.com/laAMY1ran6— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) April 9, 2024
Los Blancos did not need long to restore their confidence and managed to equalize in the 12th minute through Eduardo Camavinga’s deflected shot, which bounced off Ruben Dias and nestled in the net. Just two minutes later, Rodrygo put Real 2:1 ahead with a cheeky close-range finish, and the match proceeded like this until the half-time break.
The second period started at a very high tempo, resulting in multiple fouls, which aided Real, and they looked the more dangerous side early on. Then two separate episodes involving Vinicius Junior occurred shortly after one another. First, he missed a one-on-one with City’s goalkeeper Ortega and instead of getting more determined to increase Real’s lead, the Brazilian was smiling as if nothing happened. Soon after, Real Madrid won a throw-in near their bench, and Vinicius was the closest player to the situation, so he went on to execute it. Ancelotti was clear with his instructions to slow the play down, but Vini did not waste any time, and ball possession was immediately lost to City.
No later than 10 minutes after that scene, Phil Foden equalized for 2:2 at 66 minutes, and Josko Gvardiol scored his first-ever goal for Manchester City, putting the Premier League team 2:3 ahead. Uruguayan midfielder Federico Valverde then hit a powerful volley from a Vinicius cross into Stefan Ortega’s net for the final score of 3:3.All three second-half goals were, to say the least, very beautiful and impossible to save, adding a spectacular flair to an already thrilling match.