Manchester, United Kingdom, ap. 26, 2022 (AFP) – Manchester City beat Real Madrid 4-3 in the first leg at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday to take the lead in the European Champions League semi-finals.
Kevin de Bruyne, Gabriel Jesus, Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva scored for England, while Karim Benzema (2x) and Vinícius Junior scored for Spain.
Thanks to another decisive performance by their attacking duo, Real Madrid returns to the game with high hopes of making it back to the final.
City opened the scoring two minutes later with de Bruyne coming in using Riyadh Marquez’s cross.
At the age of 11, the English team expanded with Gabriel Jesus. The Brazilian, who scored four goals over the weekend against Watford in the Premier League, continued to be a problem for his home team’s defense.
The second goal was a blow to Real Madrid, who could not get out of the game with City’s high pressure and always finished raffling the ball. It was only when Luka Modric and Benzema entered the match that the Spanish team began to make further progress.
In the 30th minute, after a robbery by Croatia, Ferland Mendy crossed the area for Benzema to take the first place in anticipation of goalkeeper Ederson’s corner.
This goal encouraged Real Madrid, which began to be very strong in personal duels and in reference to coming with more risk.
In the team’s best moment of the first half, Rodrigo almost equalized on a shot sent by Ederson to a corner.
When the break came back, City increased the intensity and scored the third in Mahrez’s move in four minutes, when he chased down Eder Milito and finished the post. On the rebound, Foten kicked and saved over the Carvajal line.
Shortly afterwards, the Brazilian midfielder used Fernando’s cross and the England striker scored with a header.
Soon, on a great move, Vinícius Junior started to the left, occupying the area and touching the goalkeeper’s exit.
But when Real Madrid showed signs of trying to react, another cold shower.
When the Spanish team’s defense stopped thinking the referee was going to foul, Bernardo Silva continued on the pitch and scored a beautiful shot from the right corner of the court.
The Meringue team lost again in the match. But when City seemed to be in control of the game, referee Aymerich Laport delivered a penalty kick into the area. Benzema went to the ball and hit it with a Kawadiha to hit Ederson.
The Frenchman topped the Champions League today with 14 goals, beating Poland’s Robert Lewandowski’s 13 goals from Bayern Munich, who had already been eliminated from the tournament.
The Real Madrid captain returned to shine when the team needed him most, and despite the defeat, a single goal difference opens up the conflict for a return game.
“Losing is never good, but we are motivated by this Champions League and the most important thing is that we will never give up,” Benzema said after the match.
“We could have reached a better result, but we played well in both games. We played well today and the return will be a good test for the team’s personality,” commented Manchester City manager Pep Cardiola.
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