Real Madrid booked their place in the UEFA Champions League quarter finals after eliminating Manchester City with a commanding 5-1 aggregate victory, knocking the English side out of the competition for the third season in a row.
The second leg began at a frantic pace, with Federico Valverde almost giving Madrid an early breakthrough inside the opening minute. Released in behind the City defence, the Uruguayan attempted to lob Gianluigi Donnarumma, who had rushed well off his line, but his effort lacked precision and was gathered by the goalkeeper.
Manchester City, knowing they had to overturn a three-goal deficit, responded with urgency. Thibaut Courtois was called into action early on, first denying Rayan Cherki and then producing another strong stop to keep out a powerful Rodri effort.
The turning point arrived midway through the first half when Bernardo Silva handled a goal-bound effort from Vinicius Junior on the line. Following a VAR review, the City midfielder was shown a red card, leaving Pep Guardiola’s side with a mountain to climb. Vinicius then stepped up and calmly converted from the penalty spot to extend Madrid’s aggregate advantage.
The Brazilian continued to torment the City defence and came close to adding more goals soon after, with the hosts struggling to contain Madrid’s attacking threat. City did manage to pull one back before the interval, however, as Erling Haaland reacted quickest to finish after Jeremy Doku’s deflected cross had caused problems in the area.
Real Madrid made a change in goal at halftime, with Courtois replaced by Andriy Lunin, and the Ukrainian had to be sharp early in the second half to deny Haaland on two occasions as City tried to build some momentum.
Doku thought he had reduced the deficit further just after the hour mark when he found the bottom corner, but his celebrations were cut short by the offside flag. Despite being down to ten men, City continued to push forward and at times looked the more dangerous side, with Cherki going close again and another effort later ruled out for offside after Rayan Ait Nouri had strayed beyond the defence.
Any hope of a late comeback was finally extinguished deep into stoppage time when Vinicius grabbed his second of the night to cap another memorable European performance from the Spanish giants.
The result sends Real Madrid through to the quarter finals, where they are set to face what is expected to be Bayern Munich, while Manchester City’s Champions League campaign comes to an end. With their Premier League challenge also fading, Guardiola’s men now turn their attention to Sunday’s Carabao Cup final, which has suddenly taken on even greater importance.
