Guardiola hopes to complete the task and lead his English team to the final… Ancelotti and striker Benzema promise to respond at the Bernabeu
Over the course of 90 exciting minutes in the Champions League semi-final first leg, Manchester City and Real Madrid revealed how far European football has progressed at the elite level in recent years and how much it has been able to entertain fans.
It is not only due to the excitement of the eventful first leg, despite the fact that it witnessed seven goals that led to City’s 4-3 victory. Not that Real kept the competition alive by reducing the two-goal difference three times, but also because of the quality of performance provided by the two teams in their match at the Etihad Stadium in Cairo. Manchester.
This match sent a message that the conservative European Championship finals are over, especially the first-leg matches that were usually cautious, passive and tactical. It seems that canceling the advantage of scoring a goal for the opponent on the opponent’s ground in the event of a tie had the effect of making the matches more lively in both directions of the field, making them more like basketball matches and quickly transforming between defense and attack.
“Both teams want to attack and have quality,” City coach Pep Guardiola said as he summed up the match. Football is a wonderful sight.”
But it would be a mistake to view this risky performance as a show or that the big result is simply the product of a weak defence. Teams at this level, as Real Madrid and Manchester City have reminded us, are full of exceptional talent. There are attackers who can score goals from the least opportunity, as French striker Karim Benzema proved once again with his wonderful goal that brought Real Madrid back into the atmosphere of the match, making the score 2 – 1.
It can be said that Benzema is the most decisive player in front of the goal in modern football, which can also apply to another top scorer in the Champions League, Polish striker Robert Lewandowski of Bayern Munich.
Benzema celebrates his double that kept Real’s hopes alive (EPA)
City kicked off the evening with a goal after 94 seconds by in-form Belgian playmaker Kevin De Bruyne and it can be said that the way Guardiola’s side shook Real Madrid’s defense early on was closely linked to this player’s performance.
The question became, is there a full-fledged midfielder outperforming De Bruyne? The 30-year-old can finish the attack like any striker, delivering precise passes from anywhere, dashing from midfield and counter-attacking as well as stopping opponents’ movements with a well-thought-out interception or timely intervention against an opponent.
The match saw an uncompromising pace, but there were moments that clearly demonstrated the midfielder’s skills of two of the most entertaining players of the match, Croatian captain Luka Modric with Real Madrid and Portuguese playmaker Bernardo Silva at City.
The best teams in Europe benefit from the best tactical maneuvers and the latest scientific findings in the field of sports, in addition to the excellent physical preparation. But with Guardiola and Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti, the two teams are now under the leadership of a coaching duo who knows how to win the Champions League.
The coaches, players and pundits described the clash between City and Real as a modern classic, with more excitement expected during the second leg next Wednesday at the “Santiago Bernabeu”.
Both Guardiola and Ancelotti emphasized that it was a “fantastic match” in football, while newspapers around Europe used words of “crazy” and “breathtaking”.
The remarkable match in which City scored two goals on three occasions was only the second in the history of the Champions League semi-final in which both teams scored three or more goals after Dynamo Kyiv’s match against Bayern Munich in 1999. “We feel proud for our fans around the world,” Guardiola said. The world and for Manchester City. What we did with or without the ball, creating so many chances, I couldn’t ask for anything else…
Both teams want to attack and have the quality and efficiency for that. Football was really great.”
“I congratulate Carlo (Ancelotti) and his team for what they did during the match,” he added. At the same time we saw ourselves on the same level as them. Both teams played for attack and had quality and quality.”
An amazing double from Benzema, including a “Panenka” penalty and another goal from an individual effort through Brazilian Vinicius Junior, imposed the excitement on the return match without deciding the final match.
Benzema raised his score to 41 goals this season in all competitions, becoming the fifth player to score more than 40 goals in one season in Real Madrid’s history.
Guardiola, however, felt that City, whose goals were scored by Kevin De Bruyne, Gabriel Jesus, Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva, should have been in a much stronger position ahead of next week’s second leg, with the game still wide open. He explained: “I think we gave them the opportunity before the end of the first half to come back in the game, our build-up to the attacks was tense. Unfortunately, we conceded goals and couldn’t score more. We are going to Madrid to try and win the match.”
Guardiola is one step away from an unprecedented achievement, because if City wins the confrontation and advances to the final, he will be the first coach to remove Real Madrid from the Champions League three times.
Guardiola had previously ousted Real Madrid from the semi-finals in 2011 when he was coach of Barcelona, and then led Manchester City to oust him from the round of sixteen as well in 2020.
On the other hand, it can be said that Real, the record holder in the number of Champions League titles (13 times), managed to come out with the best possible result, and if City were not able to accomplish the task at the Bernabeu, they will regret the many opportunities they missed at their stadium.
City have never won the Champions League, losing the final match of the tournament last season to Chelsea.
“I am proud of how his team managed to create chances and score against City at home,” Ancelotti said. As a Real Madrid coach I have to keep in mind that we scored three goals which is really important, but we didn’t defend well and we can do better.”
The Italian coach also feels that the advantage of playing at home will be decisive in the second leg. “We are very confident and excited because we believe in the magical atmosphere of the Bernabeu,” he added.
It seemed from the statements of the players of the two teams that the return leg will also be hot, as the German City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan, who participated from the bench, said: “The match is amazing and the decisive position will be next week.” City’s third goal scorer, Phil Foden, said: “It was a great match. From the beginning to the end. We had a really good start and we could have settled the match. In these matches, we need to take chances more.”
“It was a huge football match, of course, for the spectators. We are facing a team that has won the Champions League several times, and we are liable to pay the price when we give the ball away in front of them. This is an aspect that we must work on in the return leg. The competition is still there.”
On the other hand, Benzema wrote, “The match has just begun.” “I urge our fans to prepare to see something magical,” the French striker said after the match. “We will win the second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu.” “Losing is not good at all and we are very interested in winning the Champions League. The important thing is that we never lowered the level of caution and kept fighting to the end.”
Benzema managed to finish an attack neatly in the net and showed the extent of his nerve when the Spanish team won a penalty in the last minutes of the match, after he had missed two penalties against Osasuna last week in the Spanish League. On this, Benzema commented with a smile: “I am a very confident man. This is the highest level (of the competition) we were playing against a great team and at home. We fell 2-0 but we were mentally strong to get back.”
Looking forward to another exciting match next week, former City defender Richard Dunn said: “I watched one of the best football matches of my life, and I’m looking forward to it again.”