There will no longer be defense of the title in Europe, since the Real Madrid was in charge of defeating the last champion of the Champions Leaguehe Manchester City. A duel that merited reaching the penalty shootout, the white club ended up with a ticket in hand to the semifinal.
Rodrygo opened the match early with a goal in the 12th minute. Then it was all for the merengue team, which kept the result at bay. It was not until 76′ of the second half, when the locals managed to tie the score. A great goal from the Belgian, Kevin De Bruyne, allowed us to believe in the comeback.
However, both teams attempted several attacks without success. Tired from the journey, the two titans reached extra time. Erling Haaland, who was once again missing from the main role in an important game, was replaced by the Argentine Julian Álvarez.
For his part, Carlo Ancelotti did the same to look for possible kickers for the penalty round, which was close. Lucas entered for Vinicius and Eder Militao for Dani Carvajal. Pep Guargiola, also thinking about shots ten steps from the goal, replaced De Bruyne with Mateo Kovacic and John Stones with Akanji.
The round started with speed. Álvarez shot aggressively and put City ahead. Then Luka Modric missed Madrid’s first attempt. Hoping to take advantage of the Croatian’s shooting error, it was all about completing the job, but Bernardo Silva and Kovacic’s shots were saved by the hero of the night, Ukrainian goalkeeper Andriy Lunin.
Madrid did not waste Lunin’s value and Bellingham, Lucas Vazquez, Nacho and Antonio Rüdiguer sealed the match, which awarded the ticket to the semi-final to the most champion club in the Champions League.
Without a doubt, the European tournament is very good for Real Madrid and now more alive than ever, they will face Bayern Munich for a place in the grand final at Wembley.
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AP/M. Grace Jimenez
