From the first whistle of the Champions League semi-final second leg, Manchester City were absolutely all over Real Madrid.
Pep Guardiola’s side started the match in incredible fashion and put Real Madrid under enormous pressure from the off.
If it wasn’t for a couple of world-class saves from Thibaut Courtois, City would have raced into a very early lead.
It was actually mindblowing how it was still 0-0 after 15 minutes. To demonstrate the dominance, City had completed 124 passes in that time compared to Real’s 13. City had had 79% of possession too.
They had to wait until the 23rd minute to finally break the deadlock on the night as Bernardo Silva smashed the ball past Courtois.
City were in complete control but had no intentions of stopping. They knew Real Madrid are capable of producing unlikely the most astonishing of comebacks – just as they did at the same stage last season.
But there was no letting up from the home side.
Ederson was a spectator during Man City vs Real Madrid
So much so, that Ederson must have been pretty bored and lonely in his goal.
And one Arabic commentator decided to have a bit of fun at Real’s expense.
In the 28th minute with the scores still only at 1-0, the ball actually left Real’s half. John Stones decided to get Ederson involved and passed the ball back to him. It might well have been his first touch of the game.
And one commentator had an incredible reaction to Ederson getting a rare touch.
“Ooof, thank god we saw Ederson. He’s alive. Alive and kicking. Standing right there.”
Absolute savage.
Minutes later, City doubled their lead as Bernado Silva headed in a rebound to give his side a two-goal cushion.
Despite Real’s reputation of coming back from the dead, it never looked likely as City continued to control possession.
An own goal from Eder Militao and a late Julian Alvarez strike sealed an emphatic 4-0 win to set up a Champions League final against Inter Milan.
Guardiola: One of the best performances from Man City
After the brilliant win, Guardiola admitted it was one of the best performances his side has ever produced.
“Yeah definitely (one of the best-ever performances by Manchester City),” he told BT Sport.
“I said many times we don’t have to come back 1, 3-0 down, so just win one game, be ourselves. Madrid, oh my god, what a team but we beat them two seasons ago.
“Last season, what happened, happened, because the game last season was similar to this season, so we had the feeling today that the people was calm mentally, that they make a lot of jokes, so I didn’t feel tension, anxious, in any phase, in any behaviour.
“I had the feeling that today we were ready to do a really good performance.”
