Real Madrid and Manchester City neutralized each other (3-3) despite a festival of spectacular goals, this April 9 in the quarter-final first leg of the Champions League. Arsenal and Bayern Munich also came away with a draw (2-2), leaving the suspense full for the return matches on April 17.
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At the end of a European evening which kept all its promises but was surely frustrating for its players, Real Madrid and Manchester City neutralized each other after a titanic shock marked by a festival of goals in Madrid (3-3), just like Arsenal and Bayern Munich who also left the Emirates Stadium back to back (2-2).
Face to face for the third consecutive season in the final phase of the competition, Madrid and Mancunians launched hostilities without procrastinating. Caught by the pressure of City, the Spaniards showed excitement in the first minutes like Tchouaméni, author of a catastrophic tackle on Grealish and who will miss the return match after his yellow card received from the first minute. On the free kick obtained, Bernardo Silva skillfully played the Madrid goalkeeper by sliding the ball low to the left side of the wall (2nd, 0-1). The Mancuniens then returned to the opposing area to deliver the final blow, with a shot from Haaland from a tight angle well repelled by Lunin, followed by an attempt by Grealish to recover from the penalty point but blocked by the defensive wall ( 6th).
On the verge of breaking down a few minutes earlier, Real Madrid then achieved their specialty: reversing the situation. On a strike from French international Eduardo Camavinga, Rúben Dias deflected the ball into his own goal (12th, 1-1) before Rodrygo went to double the lead alone towards Ortega’s goal, deceived this time by a deviation from Akanji (14th, 2-1). Little fazed, Pep Guardiola’s players quickly set off again to attack the Madrid goal to pick up the score in a thrilling clash without any downtime.
Two prolific shocks but without winners
In the second half, the chances continued with strikes from Bellingham (53rd), Foden (59th) and Bernardo Silva (60th), all without success. As the Mancunians began to regain the upper hand, Foden took the opportunity to emerge on the edge of the area and place a powerful and unstoppable strike into the top corner of Lunin (66th, 2-2). Inspired by his teammate, Gvardiol then gave City the advantage with a curling shot into the small right net from the still stunned Madrid goalkeeper (71st, 2-3). Not for long, since Valverde, neglected at the far post, quickly put the two teams back on level terms with a splendid volley that crucified Ortega on the spot (80th, 3-3). Madrilenians and Mancuniens then no longer found the fault and will therefore have to qualify for the last four during a return match full of suspense.
In the other quarter-final first leg of the evening, Arsenal snatched a draw against Bayern Munich, who were in the midst of a crisis but who knew how to use their European experience to thwart the plans of the Londoners at the Emirates Stadium (2- 2). While the English prodigy Saka opened the scoring (12th, 1-0), Gnabry responded immediately by equalizing (18th, 1-1). English striker Harry Kane then gave the Germans the lead again with a penalty (32nd, 1-2) before Trossard sealed the final score at the end of the match (76th, 2-2). The suspense also remains in this second quarter-final, before the return leg next week.
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