Benzema is close to the stars, De Bruyne continues his recital, Laporte costs two goals… Find the Tops and Flops of Manchester City’s victory against Real Madrid (4-3) in the semi-final first leg of the Champions League.
TOPS
Benzema, world class
Karim Benzema never ceases to impress the football world. The French international scored twice in this semi-final first leg and is slowly but surely heading towards the Ballon d’Or. KB9 revived Real Madrid by scoring on a volley from the left after a cross from Mendy (33rd) while Manchester City led 2-0. Then at the very end of the match, when Madrid were trailing 4-2, Benzema transformed a penalty with a superb panenka under the bar of Ederson in the 82nd minute. Karim Benzema has once again dazzled the footballing world with his talent and has overtaken Lewandowski in the Champions League goalscoring charts this season with 14 goals.
De Bruyne puts City on the right track
Kevin De Bruyne is Manchester City’s playmaker and he has proven it again. In this great match, the Belgian international launched the SkyBlues perfectly from the 2nd minute by taking over a cross from Mahrez with a diving header to surprise Real from the start. Then in the process, the metronome of City delivered a caviar to Gabriel Jesus on a marvel of center, so that the Brazilian international made the break (10th). Less sharp thereafter, he remained active and always made himself available to his teammates.
A spectacular game
We simply witnessed a match of madness this Wednesday evening. For this first leg semi-final between Manchester City and Real Madrid, the show was there and the scenario completely crazy. Seven goals were scored and the stars were there, like De Bruyne and Benzema. Bernardo Silva, Gabriel Jesus, Phil Foden and Vinicius all scored. The defenses didn’t really measure up and the game was very open with a lot of intensity and very few downtimes. A spectacular match, perhaps legendary… in any case a real treat for football fans.
FLOPS
Madrid’s central defense go through
The people of Madrid are doing very well with this very narrow defeat conceded at the Etihad Stadium. The fact that this match is totally crazy may have served the men of Carlo Ancelotti, whose defense clearly suffered against the Citizens. Especially the two centrals Militao and Alaba who chained the blunders and went through their match. Alaba is strawberry and misses his intervention on Jesus who then beats Courtois to make the break (10th). On this action, Militao carries out a very bad pressing on Foden and discovers the axis. Alaba is replaced by Nacho at halftime. Militao offers the 3-1 goal to Mahrez as soon as he misses his intervention but fortunately the Algerian international finds Courtois’ post. A delicate match for the Madrid defense.
Laporte at fault on two Madrid goals
Aymeric Laporte must surely blame himself at the final whistle. Very good during the first period when he participates in the game and is very solid, he sinks completely during the second act. He is first at fault on the Vinicius goal which brings Real to 3-2 by not going out on the Brazilian striker who tumbles on the left side and can adjust Courtois from the right (55th). In the last 10 minutes, he is guilty of a hand, certainly unlucky, but which nevertheless offers a penalty to Real which will be converted by Benzema to allow the Spanish club to come back to 4-3, which will be the final score.
Mahrez harvest
Aymeric Laporte is not the only Citizen who will think. Ryad Mahrez can also blame himself for this match. If the Algerian international offers the first goal to Kevin De Bruyne on a very nice curled center (2nd). Unfortunately, Mahrez will be much less effective in the rest of the match. He takes his chance from the right in the 26th minute and catapults the ball into Courtois’ side-netting as Foden was alone in the box waiting for the ball, which infuriated Pep Guardiola. This action could have made it 3-0 for City and definitely killed the game. Then the former Leicester player who arrives alone against Courtois sees his shot from the left end on the post as soon as the recovery (48th). In the 75th minute, he took his chance from the right from a tight angle and his shot went just wide. A match without Mahrez facing the goal.
