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Aug 22, 2023

How Manchester City Dominated Real Madrid

Bernardo Silva scored twice in the first half for City, who will be a favorite

Bernardo Silva scored twice in the first half for City, who will be a favorite against Inter Milan in the final.

By Rory Smith, Tariq Panja and Andrew Das

Rory Smith

MANCHESTER, England — No matter what happens from here, regardless of whether Manchester City's campaign in the Champions League ends with medals and parades and the realization of the club's ultimate, meticulously planned dream, it felt as if something shifted amid the delirious tumult of the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night.

It is not enough to say that Manchester City sealed a place in the Champions League final for the second time in three years. It is not just that Pep Guardiola's team demolished Real Madrid, the reigning champion, outclassing the club that regards this competition as its own private party by 4-0.

It is that City did so with a performance — given the circumstances, given the stakes, given the identity and reputation and talent of the opponent — that surely ranks among the finest and most dominant, this tournament has seen. This was Manchester City sending a message, making a statement, proving a point. And in the process, it was also Manchester City vanquishing its ghosts.

Guardiola's travails in this tournament are well known. He is, by common consensus, the finest coach of his generation, and yet he has spent much of the last decade or so finding inventive ways not to win the Champions League. He has contrived to lose to Monaco and Lyon, Liverpool and Tottenham. He lost a final to Chelsea because he fiddled with his team. He lost a semifinal to Real Madrid in the blink of an eye.

It has become a trope that Guardiola, in his urgency, overcomplicates matters. There is a theory — one that he himself alluded to here — that his background, as a Barcelona fan, has given him what might look in certain lights like a slightly unhealthy fixation with this tournament.

He has always scotched it as nonsense, of course, dismissing the idea that there might be a pattern, attributing the repeated disappointments to nothing more complex than the vicissitudes of the game. That has done little to quell the sense, though, that the Champions League had become his — and by extension Manchester City's — Achilles’ heel, the one realm that the club's bottomless, state-backed wealth and knife-edge precision could not conquer.

Perhaps, given the nature of the City project, that was always likely to evaporate eventually. This is a club, after all, that has an unavoidable mechanized quality. For all the richness of its style, the gleam of its talent, it is hard not to discern the cold, calculated precision with which it has been constructed.

It is a club that feels as if it has been built — to the exact specifications of the best coach in the world, and then equipped with the best of everything that money can buy — instead of grown. At some point, that was always going to tell. At some point, establishing yourself as the Champions League's dominant force is less a sporting challenge and more an economic formula.

That, though, should not be allowed to disguise the style with which City swatted aside Real Madrid. Guardiola had, in the days preceding the game, detected in his players the three ingredients he believed would be required if they were to seal a place in the final against Inter Milan in Istanbul on June 10.

There was a sense of "calm," he said, a lack of panic and anxiety. There was "tension," too, the edge, the alertness necessary to perform. And, crucially, there was the "pain" of what happened last year, when City fell victim to that peculiar magic wielded by Real Madrid, and by Real Madrid alone. For a year, Guardiola said, his team had been forced to "swallow the poison" of that game. This was the chance to purge it.

In Wednesday's first half, in particular, it felt as if this might come to be remembered as the high-water mark of Guardiola's project in Manchester, the culmination of the team he has spent the past six years constructing, honing, polishing, perfecting.

By halftime, City led by 2-0, thanks to two goals from Bernardo Silva, and it would have had every reason to feel more than a little disappointed. Erling Haaland had missed two glorious opportunities. Kevin De Bruyne had whipped an effort across the face of the goal.

Real Madrid had spent 45 minutes pinned back not only in its own half but in its own penalty area, apparently powerless to break City's spell, to escape its stranglehold. Its players, many of them veterans of multiple triumphs in this competition, seemed harried and frantic, suddenly stripped of their poise and their prowess.

Luka Modric could not judge the weight of his passes. Toni Kroos kept giving the ball away. Vinícius Júnior, stranded on the left wing, forlornly urged his teammates to step forward. Federico Valverde, overwhelmed in the midfield, seemed continually baffled to discover that there was always another light blue jersey behind him.

Real Madrid's reputation is such, of course, that even when wounded most teams would consider it a threat. At no point, though, did City consider shrinking into itself. Guardiola, clearly, had scented something: not just the chance to win a game but to change the story, to shift the emphasis.

Riyad Mahrez came on. Phil Foden came on. Whirling, gesticulating, prowling on the touchline, Guardiola urged his players forward. Manuel Akanji made it three. Julián Álvarez, in the dying embers of the game, added a fourth. A victory turned into a triumph and then a rout.

This was not simply City taking revenge on Real Madrid for last year. It was City exorcising all of those demons it has built up, all of the disappointments it has endured, all of the times the machine that Guardiola has built has stalled at precisely the wrong moment.

At the final whistle, as Real Madrid's players sank to their haunches — bereft at the defeat, relieved the humiliation was at an end — the Etihad Stadium was filled with wild, discordant noise. The club was playing Gala International. The fans were roaring, booming, exulting. The word "Istanbul," displayed in neon pink, was emblazoned on the giant screens in the corners of the stadium. Guardiola, his energy almost frantic, was hopping and jumping and dancing with his players.

Greatness now rests in Manchester City's grasp. This weekend, it should claim the Premier League, its third in a row. It has already qualified for the F.A. Cup final, against Manchester United. It will, though Guardiola protested it, be an overwhelming favorite in the Champions League final. It is 270 minutes, no more, from winning a treble.

Whatever happens, though, whatever comes next, this victory was not simply a step on the way. It was a destination in itself, the night that Manchester City vanquished its ghosts.

Andrew Das

Manchester City strolled into the Champions League final on Wednesday, moving within a victory of the trophy it has never touched but covets above all others with a 4-0 victory over Real Madrid that was as ruthless as it was impressive. Bernardo Silva scored twice in the first half, and an own goal and a late score by the substitute Julian Alvarez — the cherry on a glorious night — capped a dominant performance in which City could have scored six, or seven, or eight. Up next is a date with Inter Milan in the final in Istanbul next month. After Wednesday, City will be the overwhelming favorite, with good reason.

Andrew Das

FINAL: Manchester City 4, Real Madrid 0. And it wasn't really that close.

Andrew Das

90′ +1 GOAL! There's the dagger, from Alvarez with what may have been his first touch. Manchester City 4, Real Madrid 0.

Andrew Das

89′ Erling Haaland, who didn't score but could have had three if not for the brilliance of Courtois, goes off next, replaced by the World Cup winner Julian Alvarez. It's nice to be Pep Guardiola.

Tariq Panja

Real Madrid, soccer's apex predator, has been truly crushed tonight. Such a lopsided demolition that may finally presage a Champions League crown for Manchester City, a team that has long threatened to convert its English dominance into continental dominance.

Andrew Das

84′ Kevin De Bruyne goes off to the sound of the Etihad crowd singing his name, which is nothing less than he deserves after another masterly performance. Phil Foden replaces him, showing the depth at Gardiola's disposal.

Andrew Das

82′ That's 4-1 on aggregate now, a total that fairly reflects the difference between these teams at this point tonight.

Andrew Das

The Inter vice president Javier Zanetti will get his wish in the final: As Tariq noted earlier, he had said he hoped to avoid Real Madrid, a serial champion, in the thinking his team would have a better shot against a relative newcomer like City. I wonder if he feels the same after seeing this performance.

Andrew Das

The goal that decided this one was, in the end, relatively simple. A free kick for Kevin De Bruyne on the left side. A cross curled in. A header at the near post. A goal celebration in the corner.

The only twist is that the original header — which would have been defender Manuel Akanji's first City goal — actually went in off Real Madrid's Éder Militão, and thus could have been recorded as an own goal. (It was, initially, and then wasn't. Sometimes it all goes right.)

But City won't care: That's the goal that settled this one. Its fans are doing the Poznan in the stands, and the travel department is booking the flights to the final in Istanbul.

Tariq Panja

There cannot have been many other occasions when Real Madrid has been so supremely swept aside in a major European knockout game of this dimension. City get a third goal but it does not really matter whether it did or not. Real had shown next to no sign of mounting a comeback before that scrambled third went in.

Andrew Das

76′ GOAL! Manuel Akanji makes it 3-0 for City, which can book its tickets to Istanbul now.

Andrew Das

Correction: That's going to go as an own goal for Éder Militão, who had the last touch that turned the ball past Courtois.

Andrew Das

73′ Haaland in alone! Yet somehow Courtois denies him again, spreading out his long left leg and deflecting the ball up onto the crossbar. Haaland can't believe it.

Andrew Das

70′ Kroos follows Modric off now, replaced by Marco Asensio. Madrid need his goals more than Kroos's grit now.

Rory Smith

It tends to get lost — understandably, really — because of Manchester City's attacking style, but this is a fearsome defensive team, too. That maybe should not be a surprise, given that Guardiola has four (admittedly unorthodox) central defenders on the field, but still. For all Real's improvement in this second half, all the possession and all the territory, it has not really carved out a chance. It will not feel this way to City's fans, of course, but Guardiola's team looks fairly comfortable.

Andrew Das

67′ Lots of walking now from the City forwards, who pressed like mad in the first half. And a bit of spirit and energy from Real Madrid's attackers going the other way. Camavinga has slid effortlessly into midfield, and the game's energy has definitely taken a turn.

Rory Smith

63′ A counterintuitive change from Carlo Ancelotti, bringing on Antonio Rüdiger, not one of the great midfield playmakers of his generation, to replace Luka Modric, one of the great midfield playmakers of his generation. That should mean Eduardo Camavinga moving into a more advanced, central role, though, a switch that is presumably designed to give Real a bit more thrust. Expect to see Aurélien Tchouameni, another young French prodigy, soon, too.

Andrew Das

62′ Yellow for Gundogan, City's second of the night, for clipping Vinícius Júnior to stop a break.

Rory Smith

The first subtle signs of nervousness are seeping into the crowd at the Etihad Stadium. Real has had a little more of the ball in the first 15 minutes of the second half, and though it has done very little with it so far, it has provided a reminder that the reigning European champion remains dangerous even when it appears to be down and out.

Tariq Panja

Carvajal is not able to live with Grealish again and resorts to desperation tactics to haul him down and take a yellow card. Last week he just about managed to stay on the field. Feels like 50-50 if he will make it tonight, such is Grealish's dominance over him.

Andrew Das

55′ … and there's the second yellow, to Dani Carvajal, who was left for dead by Grealish on the wing and had no choice but to haul him down.

Andrew Das

50′ The game's first yellow card goes to Rúben Dias, who gets Vini on his hip and throws him like a wrestler.

Andrew Das

46′ No changes for either team at halftime. And we’re back under way.

Andrew Das

That feels like both a bit of confidence from Ancelotti — "We have a plan and it's a good one" — and a challenge to the starters he sends back out. It's as if he's saying: "You made this mess. Fix it."

Andrew Das

Rory makes an excellent point at halftime: City could have scored four in that half, and really put this to bed, if not for Courtois denying Haaland on two point-blank headers. The next goal, and it’ll probably come given the pace and the stakes, is going to be huge. If City gets it, this might be over. If Madrid gets it, it might be game on.

Rory Smith

Remarkable as it might sound, Manchester City is leading by two goals in a Champions League semifinal and yet has every right to be just a little disappointed. Pep Guardiola's team has the advantage over Real Madrid, of course. It has one foot in the final in Istanbul in June. Strictly speaking, though, this tie should be over, and Real should be scrambling for nothing but self-respect.

City's superiority was such that it was obvious, visible, indisputable. This iteration of Real Madrid is more comfortable than most of its predecessors with the idea that it might not be able to monopolize the ball; among its many admirable traits is an ability to endure, to survive, and then to strike when an opportune moment arises.

There are different forms of suffering, though, and this was not the sort that can be weathered. City pinned Real Madrid back not just into its own half but into its own penalty area. Real's players, some of the most composed and controlled on the planet, most of them veterans of multiple Champions League victories, seemed harried and frantic.

Luka Modric gave the ball away. Toni Kroos gave the ball away. Vinícius Júnior, all on his own on the left wing, forlornly urged his teammates to consider, maybe, stepping out just a little bit, as if trying to draw them from their protective shell. Federico Valverde, in midfield, wandered round, lost, wondering where all these light blue jerseys were coming from.

The first goal, when it arrived, was both warranted and predictable. City had fired a couple of shots across the visitor's bows, Thibaut Courtois twice denying Erling Haaland, when Bernardo Silva drifted inside, completely unmarked, and rifled a shot past him. The Etihad Stadium erupted, as if a valve had been loosened.

At that point, Real Madrid's only hope was to try to survive until halftime, to withstand the pressure, to stay in the game. And then, just as it was starting to assert itself a little — Vinícius finally building up some speed, Kroos hitting the bar — City struck again, Silva heading home after Ilkay Gundogan had been denied at close range.

The mythology of the Champions League states that this is Real Madrid, of course, and so nothing can be discounted. Cold reality, though, would suggest it is an awfully long way back from here.

Andrew Das

HALFTIME. Manchester City 2, Real Madrid 0. Phew. That was wild and frantic and City will have loved every second of it. Real Madrid? Um, less so.

Andrew Das

45′ Silva, trying to complete a 45-minute hat trick, beats a defender and fires low and hard at Courtois, but the goalkeeper smothers it.

Andrew Das

City's half (somehow) gets a little better.

Jack Grealish cuts in on the left and slots a ball to meet a perfectly timed run by Ilkay Gundogan. Gundogan's shot from a few yards out on the left post is blocked by a defender's heel and caroms directly to an open Silva near the spot.

Silva meets it in midair and calmly pings a header straight into the net. That's 2-0 for City, an Etihad Stadium pulsing with life and sound and optimism, and a frustrated and reeling Madrid — outplayed in every facet so far — praying it can get to halftime before things get even worse.

Rory Smith

Manchester City took that warning seriously. That brief flurry of Real Madrid chances clearly put Guardiola's team's backs up. This may be a bridge too far, now, even for Real Madrid.

Andrew Das

37′ GOAL! Silva doubles the lead for City!

Tariq Panja

There were many possible ways for City to score tonight, so many technicians in their team who could find many ways to score. But a goal from the head of the diminutive Bernardo Silva is unlikely to have topped any list of predictions.

Rory Smith

The first (very brief) flash of a threat from Real: Rodrygo slipping a ball through to Vinícius, only for Kyle Walker to speed back and smuggle the ball away from him. A minute or so later, Rodrygo comes within an inch or so of cutting City open again, this time aiming for Karim Benzema. And then Toni Kroos, from distance, thunders a shot off the bar. Madrid has been outplayed to a degree it may find embarrassing thus far, but chief among this team's virtues is the ability to retain its composure. It won't panic, that's for sure.

Andrew Das

30′ City's fans are now whistling whenever Madrid has the slightest bit of possession — which is not often — as if the visitors don't deserve even that.

Andrew Das

Possession is now 76-24 if you need data to confirm the dominance your eyes can see with a single glance.

Tariq Panja

Such is City's dominance that it's hard to think Real has a chance. But we only need to remember what happened at the same stage last season when City appeared to have blown Real away only for the Spanish opponents to somehow find a way to win.

Andrew Das

Correct. After last year, neither team will need reminding about how quickly things can flip.

Andrew Das

"That was coming" is the old soccer saying about a goal, but in this case it's true. Manchester City's relentless pressure finally produces an opening goal in the 23rd minute.

It looked a lot like the City chances that preceded it: A bit of cycling of the ball around, a lot of Madrid defenders chasing it, then the ball cycling out top to De Bruyne. From there, he threaded a ball into the path of Bernardo Silva a few yards in front of him.

Silva, who had ghosted into a bit of space as the Madrid defenders lost him, sprinted onto the pass, took a touch and then slammed a shot past Courtois at the near post. Boom.

Just like that, City is ahead. And Madrid is reeling.

Tariq Panja

Having been rocking all night and looking vulnerable with every City attack, Real is finally breached by Bernado Silva who gets the ball beyond Real's goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who had already made two hard-to-believe saves. Real Madrid is firmly on the ropes. It could be blown away unless its players finally get a grip of this game.

Andrew Das

23′ GOAL! There it is. Bernardo Silva at the near post.

Rory Smith

It is not too much of a stretch to suggest that has been coming. City has completely dominated Real for the opening 22 minutes of this game. Perhaps the most encouraging thing for Carlo Ancelotti's team, at this point, is that it is somehow made it this far and is only one goal down.

Andrew Das

21′ Courtois again! A header back into the center for Haaland, a sure goal, but no! Courtois uses every inch of his length to stick out a paw and push the ball wide.

Andrew Das

19′ De Bruyne takes aim at the near post on a free kick but pulls it wide as Courtois dives to cover. It sailed over Benzema's head, which is a brief reminder that he's in this game, not that Madrid has been able to get him a touch.

Tariq Panja

Perhaps the standout matchup in the first game was the one between Jack Grealish and Dani Carvajal, with Grealish giving the Real Madrid defender the toughest of nights and forcing him into using agricultural methods that often crossed the line to stop the City forward. Early indications are that it will be another long night for Carvajal, who some observers felt was lucky to remain on the field last time out.

Andrew Das

13′ Haaland with the first great chance: a point-blank header from a delicious Grealish cross. But the Norwegian rises and sends his header right into the right hip of a supremely grateful Courtois, and Madrid scrambles the loose ball off the line in the nick of time. Woof. That was close.

Rory Smith

That's the first real warning for Real: Haaland meeting Jack Grealish's cross right in front of goal and somehow failing to direct his header past Thibaut Courtois. The visitor is really struggling to cope with City's intensity, though: Real cannot maintain possession for any sustained period of time, and even Luka Modric and Toni Kroos, usually so composed, have given the ball away cheaply in dangerous areas.

Andrew Das

12′ John Stones, whom Guardiola has transformed into midfield playmaker disguised as a center back, fires high and wide from outside the area, a rare bit of frustration against a nine-man, packed-in Real Madrid.

Andrew Das

7′ Rodri breaks into the area as Real Madrid was pulled apart and scrambling, but his scything cross/shot fizzed wide of the left post. A moment earlier, Haaland had cut a ball into empty space from the end line, but no one was trailing to slam it in. City is finding spaces early. It is just not finishing. Yet.

Rory Smith

Given how much Manchester City's fans profess not to care about the Champions League — so deep are the roots of their feud with UEFA — the noise inside the Etihad is quite something: fevered and constant and just a little wild. The fans are still not quite drowning out the Spanish radio announcer behind me, though, so they still have some work to do.

Tariq Panja

Although the game is just five minutes old, there is a discernible difference in tempo between last week's game and the start in Manchester. City, as expected, doing all the early running but the pace and urgency of its early play is markedly different.

Rory Smith

It is fair to assume that Pep Guardiola does not believe a word he said. The Manchester City manager was quite right, on the eve of yet another meeting with Real Madrid, that the outcome would not impact his legacy. That was "impeccable," he said.

His argument would be that he is on the verge of a fifth Premier League title in six years. He has won countless domestic cups, and shattered a wide and rich array of records. He has transformed not just City into a sleek, state of the art team, but altered many of the received wisdoms of English soccer. There has been an undeniable, and possibly measurable, Guardiola effect.

Impressive, though, is not the same as impeccable. Guardiola was hired with the expectation that he would deliver a Champions League. More importantly, he would have arrived with the personal ambition of doing so. He has not won the biggest trophy in club soccer for more than a decade. By his own standards, that is far too long.

This season brings a golden opportunity. City merely has to win at home — a place where it has not lost a Champions League game since 2018 — to qualify for a second final in three years. Once there, it would be overwhelming favorite against Inter Milan, the surprise qualifier from the other side of the draw. It is so close Guardiola can almost taste it.

The only slight hitch — just a small thing, really, a minor inconvenience — is that City finds the road blocked by Real Madrid, a club that regards this tournament as its private fiefdom, and a team that has a proven ability to find a way to succeed no matter how daunting the odds or unfavorable the circumstance.

Tariq Panja

Manchester City enters Wednesday's game still hoping to win the treble this season: titles from the Premier League, the F.A. Cup and the Champions League. It is a feat that has only been achieved once before by an English team, by City's crosstown rival Manchester United in 1999.

But City's achievements this season — and in previous seasons — have come against a backdrop of off-field questions about its finances and its legal maneuverings to avoid punishments that threaten its legacy, and perhaps even some of the titles it won. And that has raised a bigger question: If City finally wins the Champions League title it has chased for more than a decade, could it promptly lose it over financial rules violations?

The short answer is: no.

Earlier this year, after completing a multiyear investigation, the Premier League charged the club with more than 100 rules breaches related to its financial control rules. If it is found to have violated those rules, City could be stripped of a string of Premier League triumphs.

But that inquiry — ongoing, and cloaked in the strictest secrecy — is specifically related to Premier League rules. That means there appears to be little risk that City would lose the Champions League title if it manages to finally win it. An earlier investigation by European soccer's governing body, UEFA, ended with City overturning a two-year ban on appeal; rather than a Champions League ban, the club paid a fine for not complying with UEFA's investigation.

UEFA's greater enmity these days is actually toward City's opponent on Wednesday, Real Madrid, which remains a proponent of creating a Super League that would rival the Champions League.

Andrew Das

Real Madrid's Carlo Ancelotti makes the most interesting change in his lineup for the second leg: Antonio Rüdiger, who to the surprise of many kept Haaland off the score sheet in the first leg in Madrid, starts on the bench. That heavy lift now falls to Éder Militão, restored to the lineup, and David Alaba.

Real Madrid XI: Thibaut Courtois; Dani Carvajal, Eder Militão, David Alaba, Eduardo Camavinga; Federico Valverde, Luka Modrić, Toni Kroos, Rodrygo; Karim Benzema, Vinícius Júnior

📋✅ Our starting 𝗫𝗜 🆚 @ManCity!#UCL pic.twitter.com/YOOEeW3F5x

Pep Guardiola's City lineup is as expected, which will be a relief to City fans accustomed to his bad habit of overthinking things in big games:

Manchester City XI: Ederson; Kyle Walker, Rúben Dias, Manuel Akanji; John Stones, Rodri; Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gündoğan, Jack Grealish; Erling Haaland

Now if it can just get a goal or two from that last guy.

Your City XI 🙌XI | Ederson, Walker, Stones, Dias, Akanji, Rodrigo, Gundogan (C), De Bruyne, Bernardo, Grealish, HaalandSUBS | Ortega Moreno, Carson, Phillips, Laporte, Alvarez, Gomez, Mahrez, Foden, Palmer, Lewis#ManCity | #UCL pic.twitter.com/V1GZQTL3vn

Andrew Das

Inter Milan beat its city rival and San Siro housemate A.C. Milan in the other Champions League semifinal, advancing with a 1-0 victory on Tuesday (3-0 on aggregate).

But as Rory Smith wrote on Tuesday, Inter — which last won the competition in 2010 — is not your average Champions League finalist:

"For years, Inter has been facing mounting financial problems. Its debts reach into the hundreds of millions of dollars. Its owner, the Chinese businessman Steven Zhang, has been seeking to sell the club for several seasons, even before the coronavirus pandemic ravaged Inter's accounts.

"Quite how desperate the situation has become was neatly illustrated by the club's blank jerseys for both semifinals against Milan. Inter does not currently have a primary sponsor; the cryptocurrency firm that had occupied that prestigious advertising real estate having failed to make its payments earlier this year."

Andrew Das

Stunning long-distance goals from Vinícius Júnior and Kevin De Bruyne and some stunning saves from goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and Ederson last week in Madrid mean Real Madrid and Manchester City have everything to play for on Wednesday.

Last week was not just a collision of great teams, though: It was also a collision of ideas, Rory Smith wrote:

"This Champions League semifinal was, on a macro level, always going to be cast not just as a tussle between old glory and new money, the establishment and the aspirant, but as a conceptual collision, too. Carlo Ancelotti's Madrid is inherently improvisational and player-centric; Guardiola believes, more than anything, in the power of his collective, his system. It is free jazz against orchestral arrangement. (The score, after the first of two legs, is 1-1; no sweeping conclusions on scant evidence can yet be drawn.)

"For all their philosophical differences, what was striking about this game was just how aware both teams were of the other's strengths, their capacity to inflict damage. That, more than anything, might have been the enduring lesson of their encounter in a semifinal last season: Madrid conscious of just how good City can be; City conscious that a team can be as good as it likes against Madrid and still lose."

Tonight demands a winner, though, no matter what — and how long — it takes.